Zelensky will visit Biden and Congress this week as Ukraine continues to push for more war aid on top of the $111 billion it has already received

President Joe Biden invited his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskiy to the White House on Tuesday, after the administration warned that money for aid to Ukraine will run out within weeks unless embattled US lawmakers take action.

The two leaders “will discuss Ukraine's urgent needs” as the country fends off a Russian invasion and “the critical importance of continued support from the United States at this critical moment,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Sunday in a statement. .

The Ukrainian presidency said in its own statement that the meeting will focus on key issues such as “further defense cooperation between Ukraine and the United States, in particular through joint projects in the field of production of weapons and air defense systems, as well as the coordination of efforts between our countries in the coming year.'

Republican senators last week blocked $106 billion in emergency aid, mainly for Ukraine and Israel, after conservatives opposed the exclusion of immigration reforms they had demanded as part of the package.

About $60 billion of that aid would go to Ukraine, on top of the $111 billion the country has already received from the US.

The conservative opposition was a setback for Biden, who had urged lawmakers to approve the funds, warning Russian President Vladimir Putin that he would not stop winning in Ukraine and could even attack a NATO country .

“This cannot wait,” Biden said in an impassioned televised speech from the White House on Wednesday.

“Frankly, I find it mind-boggling that we've even gotten to this point where Republicans in Congress are willing to give Putin the biggest gift he could hope for.”

The White House said Tuesday's meeting will come at a crucial time “as Russia steps up its missile and drone strikes against Ukraine.”

In early December, Putin signed a decree to increase Russian armed forces by 15 percent in support of his invasion of Ukraine, expanding the army by some 170,000 troops.

Moscow has recently signaled a possible peace deal, even if it involves a shrunken, neutral Ukraine, which would be impossible for Zelensky to swallow.

In a flurry of diplomatic activity after the White House announced Zelensky's visit, an aide to Mike Johnson said the new Republican speaker of the House of Representatives — who has tried to tie aid to Ukraine to funding for U.S. border security — will also meet with the Ukrainian leader on Tuesday.

And a Senate official said Democratic Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Republican Leader Mitch McConnell had also invited Zelensky to speak at an all-senators meeting Tuesday morning — a week after several Republicans angrily walked out of a classified Ukraine briefing he had have to speak. via video.

Shalanda Young, head of the White House Office of Management and Budget, echoed these fears on CBS's Face the Nation on Sunday, warning that “our national security is also affected” by the fate of Ukraine.

'What happens if Putin marches through Ukraine, what's next? NATO countries, our sons and daughters, are at risk of becoming part of a larger conflict,” she said.

But Republicans remained skeptical. Senator JD Vance, a close ally of former US President Donald Trump, dismissed the idea that Putin would endanger NATO countries in the region as “ridiculous.”

He told CNN on Sunday that he is against a “blank check” for Ukraine.

'You have to express what the ambition is. What is $61 billion going to accomplish that $100 billion hasn't?” Vans said.

“What is in America's best interest is to accept that Ukraine will have to cede some territory to the Russians and that we have to end the war.”

Democrat Chris Murphy said the money would make a difference as Russia struggles to finance its war effort.

“It could change the outcome of this war,” Murphy said. “Because at the same time that we are recommitting to Ukraine, Russia's ability to continue fighting this war is at risk.”

The U.S. State Department on Wednesday announced an emergency tranche of $175 million in new aid to Ukraine, including prized HIMARS missiles, grenades, rockets and ammunition.

The funding row underlines signs that Western support for Ukraine is faltering just as Kiev's counteroffensive falters and Putin's forces press for new gains.

The Ukrainian offensive has deployed billions of dollars of Western weapons, but the front lines have barely moved in more than a year and Russian attacks along the front have intensified.

The White House said Biden's meeting will come at a crucial time “as Russia steps up its missile and drone strikes against Ukraine.”

In early December, Putin signed a decree to increase Russia's armed forces by 15 percent, increasing the army by some 170,000 troops.

Moscow has recently signaled a possible peace deal, even if it involves a shrunken, neutral Ukraine, which would be impossible for Zelensky to swallow.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken emphasized on Sunday that “Ukraine has done an extraordinary job” of defending itself.

“The choice is very clear,” he told ABC. “If we do this and help Ukraine maintain the gains it has made, we will ensure that Russia continues to suffer a strategic failure in Ukraine. That's one route we have to go.

“The other route we need to take is to do something where the only people advocating for it are in Moscow, and perhaps in Tehran and Beijing, and that is not to provide this aid,” he said.