Zelensky faces tightrope walk as US elections loom

He acknowledged that Ukraine’s future could depend on the upcoming US presidential elections in November. He avoided criticising Republican front-runner Donald Trump but spoke out against US isolationism and said a defeat for Ukraine would be a defeat for Western values.

“I’ll be frank with you: Right now, everybody is waiting for November,” he said. “And the truth is, President Putin is waiting for November too.”

Zelenskiy’s speech was his third major address in the U.S. since the Russian invasion in 2022. He addressed Congress shortly after the invasion but was interrupted by a standing ovation, but he faced a tougher fight in subsequent visits because of growing skepticism among Republicans about aid to Ukraine.

Zelensky’s speech on Tuesday was hosted by the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation, a part of the traditional Republican establishment that has supported aid to Ukraine. Foundation president Roger Zakheim said the foundation invited Zelensky as part of its commitment to promoting Reagan’s foreign policy belief in peace through strength.

He noted that Zelensky’s speech came 40 years after President Reagan marked the 40th anniversary of the Normandy landings with a strong condemnation of isolationism, and said that “there has never been, and never will be, an acceptable response to an expansionist tyrannical government.”

Retired Army Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, who served on Trump’s National Security Council and still advises the former president, said Zelensky’s choice of venue was symbolically important because “this is a place named for a true practitioner of freedom, Ronald Reagan.”

In his speech, Zelensky said he supported the legacy of President Reagan. He also spoke of Russia’s human rights violations, attacks on civilian buildings in Ukraine and missile attacks that have damaged large swaths of the country’s power grid, which he said were violations of the rules-based order and would spread to Europe if Putin wins in Ukraine.

He said Russia’s missile attack on Ukraine on Monday was its largest in months and was likely timed as a “signal” from Putin ahead of the NATO summit. Ukrainian officials said the attack struck a children’s hospital in Kiev, killing at least 33 people and wounding more than 100.

Asked what he thought Putin thought about Biden and Trump, Zelensky said that while Americans may notice big differences, Putin doesn’t. “Biden and Trump are very different, but they both support democracy. That’s why I think Putin dislikes them,” he said.

Trump renewed his usual balancing act with the West, thanking allies for the massive military aid they have given him while pleading for more. His visit to the NATO meeting came amid mounting troubles at home.

A year ago, he was still talking about retaking the entire Russian-occupied part of Ukraine, but last year’s Ukrainian counterattack made little progress and this year Moscow has regained the initiative.

Zelenskiy said a Western arms buildup had thwarted a Russian attack near the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv earlier this year, and that the arrival of five new Patriot air defense batteries had better enabled Ukraine to repel Russian missile attacks.

“They will be useful,” he said, thanking the U.S. for the additional Patriot systems. “Of course, it’s not enough. It’s never enough.”

Zelenskiy has frequently expressed frustration with NATO allies’ reluctance to set a timetable for Ukraine’s membership and has at times grown angry, complaining about the slow pace of U.S. support for Ukraine and U.S. restrictions on attacking targets inside Russia.

Before last year’s NATO summit in Vilnius, he called it “unreasonable” that NATO had not given a clear deadline for Ukraine’s membership.

The summit in Washington this week is not expected to set a timetable for NATO membership, and member states are still debating the wording of a statement at the end of the summit that would further state Ukraine’s position without admitting NATO membership.

Earlier this week, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said the summit would “provide further concrete information on Ukraine’s bridge to NATO.” Another Western diplomat said Ukraine’s path to NATO would be “irreversible.”

But the summit is likely to yield promises of new aid to Kiev, which Zelensky may take home as compensation. President Biden promised Kiev new air defense systems on Tuesday, and NATO is also expected to announce plans this week to station a senior official in Kiev and mechanisms for strengthening its long-term support for Ukraine.

Seth Jones, a senior vice president at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said Zelenskiy’s visit to Washington may also be aimed at appealing to Americans, as well as Europeans, whose engagement with Ukraine is at stake in the November elections, regardless of what is decided at the NATO summit.

“They’re going to need ammunition, ammunition and ammunition for the foreseeable future just to hold on and hold on to what they have, let alone take back any territory,” he said. “It’s unclear whether the Trump administration is willing to do that. So I think Zelensky is at a very critical moment now where he has to convince NATO and especially the Europeans that they have a lot of interests in Ukraine.”

Eric Green, an adjunct fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and director for Russia and Central Asia on Biden’s National Security Council, said concerns about the upcoming presidential election are giving the NATO summit in Washington a “split-screen” feel.

But Zelenskiy should be impressed by the breadth of support for Ukraine from NATO allies, he said, noting that despite confusion over Zelenskiy’s comments at last year’s NATO summit in Vilnius, the summit was followed by bilateral security agreements between Ukraine and NATO members, including one with the United States and one earlier this week with Poland.

“The goal is to establish a credible long-term defense and deterrence foothold for Ukraine,” Green said. “This is not NATO membership, but it will start to change the facts on the ground to show Moscow that Ukraine cannot be conquered.”

Write to Alan Cullison at alan.cullison@wsj.com