Meeting with Congress, Zelensky asks for more jets and a no-fly zone.

WASHINGTON — President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine spoke with greater than 300 members of Congress on Saturday, imploring them to ban the importation of Russian oil and to ship extra jets to his nation, in response to lawmakers on the decision.

The assembly, conducted via Zoom, was the primary time Mr. Zelensky had addressed each homes of Congress since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Through the name, Mr. Zelensky waxed defiant, in response to lawmakers on the decision. He advised the lawmakers it may be the final time they see him alive, echoing feedback he made final month on a name with European Union leaders.

Mr. Zelensky reiterated a listing of his long-sought after calls for, together with the imposition of a no-fly zone over Ukraine. Western governments have rebuffed the concept as all however inconceivable, citing the danger of direct battle between NATO and Russian forces.

“He’s standing robust, however pleaded for extra assist,” Consultant Jim Himes, Democrat of Connecticut, mentioned of Mr. Zelensky. “Planes, oil embargo, continued navy support.”

Mr. Zelensky advised lawmakers {that a} ban on Russian oil can be “much more highly effective” than eradicating some Russian banks from the SWIFT monetary messaging system, in response to Senator Dan Sullivan, Republican of Alaska. This previous week, Republicans and Democrats ratcheted up strain on the White Home to ban the importation of Russian vitality merchandise, despite the fact that consultants have mentioned such a transfer can be largely symbolic.

Lawmakers have additionally been urging the administration to ship extra navy tools to arm the Ukrainians, even after Mr. Biden final weekend licensed the cargo of a $350 million package deal of weapons to the nation, a package deal that represented the most important single licensed switch of arms from U.S. navy warehouses to a different nation.

On Saturday, Mr. Zelensky careworn the necessity for extra planes and drones within the absence of a NATO-led no-fly zone, lawmakers on the decision mentioned. His plea got here after Poland, Bulgaria and Slovakia mentioned they might not ship fighter jets to Ukraine.

“Zelensky’s message is easy: ‘Shut the skies or give us planes,’” Senator Ben Sasse, Republican of Nebraska, mentioned in a press release after the assembly. “Let’s be cleareyed about our choices: A no-fly zone means sending American pilots into fight in opposition to Russian jets and air defenses — in a battle between nuclear powers that might spiral uncontrolled shortly.”

Mr. Sasse added that the US “ought to completely ship Ukrainians planes, helicopters and U.A.V.s,” or unmanned aerial autos.

In an interview after the decision, Consultant Tom Malinowski, Democrat of New Jersey, recommended that Congress shortly approve funding to reimburse Japanese European allies if they supply Ukraine with planes — or extra feasibly, he mentioned, surface-to-air missiles.

“We must be signaling to the Poles and Romanians and others that that is one thing we might wish to assist them do,” Mr. Malinowski mentioned.

Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the bulk chief, pledged to Mr. Zelensky through the name that he and Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky and the minority chief, had been working “very onerous in a bipartisan style” to shortly approve the $10 billion support package deal to Ukraine that the Biden administration requested this previous week.

“President Zelensky made a determined plea for Japanese European international locations to offer Russian-made planes to Ukraine,” Mr. Schumer mentioned in a press release. “These planes are very a lot wanted. And I’ll do all I can to assist the administration to facilitate their switch.”

On the decision, Mr. Zelensky additionally requested for Western governments to impose further sanctions on Russia. And in a tart apart, he mentioned he believed that Russia wouldn’t have invaded Ukraine if the penalties lately imposed by the Biden administration and European governments had been enacted within the fall, in response to two folks acquainted with the feedback.