An assault unit commander walks to his position a few kilometers from Andriivka, Donetsk region, Ukraine, on Sept. 16, 2023.
Alex Brandon/AP Photo

“What does the next 12 months look like? Where can we realistically be?” Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) said of the questions the administration needs to answer more explicitly. “They’ve been able to maintain public support. But we know the longer it goes on, the more challenging it becomes.”

The administration’s $26 billion request for Ukraine is tied up in broader battles over a government spending bill. White House officials and aides of both parties have expressed confidence the request would eventually be fulfilled, although some have opened the door to it not getting done prior to the end of the month or being split into two.

The pleas for more forceful presidential messaging come ahead of Zelenskyy’s visit to Washington on Thursday, when he will meet with senators in the storied Old Senate Chamber, with Defense officials at the Pentagon, and then later with Biden at the White House. While the United Nations General Assembly — the reason for Zelenskyy’s U.S. visit — was scheduled long before the funding request, the Ukrainian president’s visit is viewed by administration officials as helpful to building political support for it.

Support for Ukraine — while consistently relatively strong — hardens when there is a high-profile news event in the battle or with Zelenskyy.

“I encourage any member of Congress who is having doubts about this course to make sure that they will make themselves available to President Zelenskyy” on Thursday, Kirby said.

Zelenskyy routinely peppers his speeches with accounts of Russia’s brutality and its immediate threat to the wider world, and critics off the Hill say Biden also needs to speak of real-world implications.

“Talking about the ‘liberal international order’ makes my eyes glaze over when people talk about it and I’m at least partially an academic,” said Eric Edelman, a George W. Bush administration defense official.

“He needs to actually talk about the dangers of a world in which aggression is left free to run its course, the connections between this and peace and security for the American people, not just in Europe, but in the Indo Pacific and beyond. He’s made all of those arguments kind of piecemeal, but not in a concerted way with the attention of the American public.”