Schumer challenges House Speaker Johnson to visit war-torn Ukraine

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, fresh off a visit to Ukraine, challenged House Speaker Mike Johnson on Sunday to tour the war-ravaged country as both pols’ parties battle over additional US aid.

“I cannot emphasize enough how important it was for me to go, to see with my own eyes, what the brave people of Ukraine have endured for two long years,” Schumer said. “The resolve of American strength, and even the durability and potency of Western civilization, all hang in the balance.”

Schumer (D-NY) and four other Democratic senators visited Ukraine on Friday ahead of the two-year anniversary of Russia’s brutal invasion of its neighbor.

The Senate leader has long clamored for additional financial support for the besieged US ally.

President Biden requested Congress replenish aid in August, but Republicans swatted that down, demanding any new financial package be paired with US border security reform.

Roughly four months of negotiations ensued, and a sprawling compromise deal was eventually pitched, but GOPers ended up arguing that the border provisions were still woefully inadequate.

Schumer took that $118 billion package anyway to the Senate floor, where it got shot down.

He then put up a $95 billion supplemental bill, sans border security, that entailed roughly $60 billion for Ukraine.

That package passed in the Senate, but Johnson (R-La.) has refused to take it up in the House, demanding it be coupled with border security.

Schumer warned about the ramifications of letting Russia prevail in its unprovoked war against Ukraine while pinning the blame for GOP recalcitrance on former President Donald Trump, who is now the leading 2024 GOP presidential candidate by a mile.

“If we turn our backs now, I fear Ukraine will succumb to the dictator Putin. And that would make the world a more welcoming place to the dark forces of autocracy,” Schumer said, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The top senator argued that abandoning Ukraine “would betray the fundamental values that America stands for” and run counter to the long-term national security interest of the US.

“Will we let it all slip away because a self-interested, petulant former president, known for his appalling and fawning and weak admiration of autocrats, is pushing House Republicans to let Ukraine fall?” Schumer asked in a nod to Trump.

During the trip, Schumer and the delegation of Democratic senators met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Schumer described that meeting as “powerful, enlightening and sobering.

“Ukraine will lose not because its soldiers didn’t fight hard enough,” Schumer warned. “No, Ukraine will lose because a minority of members in the United States House of Representatives did nothing to help our friend and ally, Ukraine, in their hour of need.

“The thought sickens me.”

Democrats believe that if Johnson were to bring up the supplemental package for a vote on the House floor, it would pass with bipartisan support.

Republicans are bitterly splintered over Ukraine, and some have dangled a motion to vacate the chair — or oust Johnson if he brings up that type of bill.

In October, Johnson’s predecessor Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) was booted in a GOP mutiny over another spending flap.

In recent weeks, Ukrainians have found themselves significantly outgunned by the Russians and lacking much-needed artillery to fend off the invaders.

Earlier this month, Ukraine was forced to pull out of its eastern city of Avdiivka, marking one of Russia’s greatest battlefield victories in months.

Top US officials such as National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan have argued that defeat was caused by a massive munitions deficit against the Kremlin’s forces.

Europe has stepped up its aid but lacks the industrial might that the US military enjoys.

Last week, President Biden signaled he would potentially be willing to sit down with Johnson and iron out some of their differences.

Johnson claims that the White House has turned down repeated requests for a meeting over recent weeks. The Post did not immediately receive a response to its request for comment from Johnson’s office Sunday.