Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrives in Washington this week after making initial moves to appeal to the MAGA movement that has long hampered his push to secure US support for Ukraine’s war against Russia.
But if he wants to get the anti-intervention wing of the Republican party on his side, Zelenskyy will have a lot of convincing to do during his time in the United States.
MAGA’s public supporter-turned-conservative activist Laura Loomer, who visited Ukraine last week, interviewed Zelenskyy and said she now fully supports Kyiv. While the social media influencer insisted that he made the trip of his own free will, he said in an interview that it was the president of Ukraine who approached him about sitting down, instead of doing so.
“Zelenskyy saw that I was in the country, and then he came and asked me if I would come” to meet him, Loomer said.
There have been other signs that Ukraine is gaining traction with the anti-interventionist crowd in recent weeks — including Vice President JD Vance, who recently praised Ukraine’s defensive strategy and said Kyiv’s battlefield performance could help create an environment for peace.
Ukrainian officials and their supporters have long hoped to bring a Republican majority across the board to support their four-year war against Russia — in hopes of persuading President Donald Trump to side with Kyiv. Zelenskyy has arrived in Washington with a list of requests for Trump and is trying to seize the opportunity given by new supporters and battlefield victories that Ukraine has made in recent months against Russia.
A person familiar with the Ukrainian president’s plans said the topics he wants to discuss, in order of priority, are: sanctions, the drone program, Patriots and peace talks. The person was granted anonymity to discuss sensitive details.
But many of Trump’s hard-line America First allies on Capitol Hill don’t share Loomer’s change of heart. That is especially true for the group of House Republicans who have long pushed the GOP leadership to cut off US military and economic aid to Ukraine.
“I can’t speak for MAGA but I’m not going” to support Ukraine, said Representative Tim Burchett, a MAGA-backed Republican from Tennessee.
Other Hill Republicans backed by MAGA said they believe Loomer is being paid to push his new pro-Ukraine stance and that no Republicans have changed their minds about Ukraine.
“X doesn’t make foreign policy,” said the House Republican, referring to a series of social media posts from former Ukraine skeptics in the GOP. The person was granted anonymity to discuss internal discussions.
When asked who paid for his trip to Ukraine, Loomer said it was not the Ukrainian government, but did not elaborate. Loomer also insisted that he initiated the journey.
“I had no idea that people were going to, like, wonder about me being in Ukraine,” Loomer said. “It became like national news in the country. I didn’t plan for it to be like this. I just came to Ukraine, and like everyone wanted to meet me, and it happened.”
Zelenskyy’s meeting with Loomer was not originally intended to be an interview but the Ukrainian president “appreciated that he took his time” to get a first-hand account of the war, a Ukrainian official said.
Trump remains committed to ending the war between Russia and Ukraine, the White House said in a statement when asked about the Zelenskyy meeting.
“The president and his team remain committed to continuing to play a constructive role in ending the war between Russia and Ukraine, and he remains hopeful that we will eventually reach a peace agreement,” the statement said.
The White House did not respond to further questions about Ukraine and MAGA or Vance’s position.
Some people close to the White House question the truth about Loomer’s face.
“Foreign governments and foreign interests have infiltrated the right-wing media system in the United States … it’s a space that’s completely out of control,” said one person close to the White House, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss foreign government influence on right-wing media.
Zelenskyy is trying to convince Republicans who are skeptical of US involvement in Ukraine on a few key points, including emerging evidence that Russia has been supporting Iran. Such a message could reach the MAGA center, which has been broadly supportive of US and Israeli attacks on Iran, even as that support is fading.
Trump, however, was unmoved when asked about Zelenskyy’s claims on Monday.
“Well, we’ll find out if that’s true. I’ll ask Putin about it,” he said. “We’ll find out.”
Zelenskyy is also expected to try and make more inroads on Capitol Hill on this trip. His visit to Washington is timed so he can attend the funeral of the late Senator Lindsey Graham (RS.C.), Ukraine’s staunchest advocate in Congress.
Graham’s death robs Zelenskyy of one of the few voices pushing Trump to go hard against Russia from within his own party. Graham’s influence, however, never really pushed Trump’s position to begin with.
Zelenskyy has another strong argument to give to Trump – that Ukraine shows that it can win the war. Ukraine’s military has come under Russian protection with repeated drone attacks in recent months that have put Moscow on the back foot.
“Trump sees that Putin is losing, and he sees that Zelenskyy has put all this together and is winning.” said Kurt Volker, who served as the US special representative for Ukraine negotiations during Trump’s first term. “So that, I think, has changed his perspective.”
Volker calledTrump’s declarationthat he has a “good relationship” with Zelenskyy at this month’s NATO summit in Ankara – where he also supported the production of Ukraine’s Patriot missiles – “a signal to the MAGA world that it is okay to support Ukraine.” Volker is now a consultant for the Ukrainian energy company DTEK.
NATO leaders noted Ankara’s shift from previous negative predictions about the conduct of the war and suspicions of the Trump administration.
“I heard a different voice in the room,” said Maria Malmer Stenergard, Sweden’s foreign minister. “Yes, Ukraine has momentum, and we must increase support, because now they have the possibility to change things and make sure that Russia really comes to the negotiating table.”
During his time on the Hill this week, Zelenskyy is expected to hold smaller meetings as well as address the full Senate on Tuesday evening, according to a Republican aide, who did not want to be named because they were not authorized to speak publicly.
Ukraine’s priority push on sanctions is about getting Congress to finally move forward with the long-stalled legislation that Graham had spearheaded. Now officially titled the Lindsey O. Graham Russia Sanctions Act, the bill would impose sanctions on Moscow and its enablers, possibly including tariffs on large buyers of Russian energy.It received the support of the White Houseshortly before Graham died unexpectedly earlier this month.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune said the bill will get its first vote on Tuesday. Trump has so far been reluctant to impose sanctions on Russia.
“I hope the motion to get that vote is going to be a very big vote, a very big bipartisan vote, and if I think that will open up a way to get it done and maybe create an opportunity to get a short-term deal,” Thune told reporters Monday.
Still, it’s unclear whether other MAGA figures are close to giving Kyiv the kind of vocal support for Ukraine that Loomer has provided.
Popular conservative broadcaster Tim Pool, once a vocal critic of Ukraine, drew attention when he said in a post on X last week that Ukraine was “fighting for its existence against an evil dictator” and wrote that he now understands the significance of Ukraine’s victory over Russia.
It was not clear whether he was making the comments seriously or not. on monday,A pool was recommendedthat those who support Ukraine get more media attention.
Pool did not respond to a request for comment.
Others who support a more isolationist foreign policy say the change in message is the result of Trump’s failure to deliver on his promise to end the war quickly.
“Trump is allowing this war to escalate and activists like Loomer are stepping into the gap,” said Curt Mills, executive director of The American Conservative magazine.
Veronika Melkozerova, Paul McLeary, Meredith Lee Hill and Jordain Carney contributed to this report.
