The Zelenskyy Washington visit this week comes at a strange moment for Ukraine’s president, one that mixes genuine opportunity with real loss. He arrives having made small but noticeable progress with the part of the American right that has spent years arguing against helping his country, and he arrives to bury the Republican senator who fought hardest for him in Congress.

Whether the first fact can survive the second is the question hanging over the trip.

What He Actually Wants From Trump

A person familiar with the Ukrainian delegation’s preparations described a ranked list of priorities heading into the meetings: sanctions first, then a drone agreement, then Patriot air defense systems, then the shape of any peace negotiations.

The sanctions push is the most concrete. Legislation long championed by the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, now formally carrying his name, would target Moscow and the countries and companies that keep its war economy running, potentially through tariffs on the biggest purchasers of Russian energy. The bill sat stalled for months before the White House signaled support shortly before Graham’s unexpected death.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune said a first vote was scheduled for Tuesday. He told reporters he hoped the procedural motion would draw a large bipartisan margin, which in his view would open a path toward passage and possibly toward a time-limited arrangement with Moscow. Trump himself has been consistently reluctant to move on Russian sanctions.

Zelenskyy is also expected to hold smaller meetings on Capitol Hill and address the full Senate on Tuesday evening.

An Unexpected Convert

The most visible sign of shifting sentiment came from conservative activist Laura Loomer, who traveled to Ukraine last week, sat down with Zelenskyy, and emerged saying she now backs Kyiv without reservation.

Loomer insisted the trip was her own initiative, but said the meeting itself was not. According to her account, Zelenskyy learned she was in the country and reached out to invite her. She said she never anticipated the reaction, describing how her presence turned into a major story inside Ukraine and how people kept seeking her out.

Asked who financed the travel, she said it was not the Ukrainian government but declined to elaborate.

A Ukrainian official framed the encounter as something other than a planned press event, saying the president valued the fact that she had made the effort to see the war firsthand rather than assess it from a distance.

Vice President JD Vance has also struck a warmer note recently, praising how Ukraine has structured its defense and suggesting that battlefield performance could help produce conditions for a settlement.

The Skeptics Have Not Budged

Inside the House Republican conference, the mood is considerably colder. A cluster of members has pushed leadership for years to end military and economic assistance to Kyiv entirely, and they show no sign of reconsidering.

Rep. Tim Burchett of Tennessee said flatly that he could not speak for the wider movement but that he personally has not come around.

Others were blunter and less charitable. Some MAGA-aligned lawmakers privately suggested Loomer is being compensated for her new position and insisted that no Republican member has genuinely changed course. One House Republican dismissed the wave of friendlier social media posts with the observation that foreign policy is not made on X.

A person close to the White House voiced a broader suspicion, arguing that foreign governments and interests aligned with them have worked their way into the American right-wing media environment to a degree that has become difficult to control.

Losing His Loudest Advocate

Graham’s death removes one of the very few Republicans willing to lean on Trump to take a harder line against Moscow. It is worth noting, though, that his influence had limits. For all his persistence, he never fundamentally shifted the president’s instincts on Russia.

Zelenskyy’s visit was timed so he could attend the funeral.

The Iran Argument

One of the newer lines of persuasion Zelenskyy is testing involves evidence that Russia has been supporting Iran. The calculation is straightforward: the MAGA base largely backed American and Israeli strikes on Iran, even if that enthusiasm has cooled, and tying Moscow to Tehran might reframe Russia as a problem rather than a distraction.

Trump gave the argument a cool reception when asked about it Monday, saying he would find out whether it was accurate and that he would raise the matter with Putin directly.

Winning as a Selling Point

The strongest card Zelenskyy holds may not be rhetorical at all. Ukrainian forces have pushed into Russian defensive positions with sustained drone operations over recent months, putting Moscow on the defensive in a way it has not been for some time.

Kurt Volker, who served as the U.S. special representative for Ukraine negotiations during Trump’s first term and now advises the Ukrainian energy company DTEK, argued that this is exactly what has moved the president. In his reading, Trump can see that Putin is losing ground and that Zelenskyy has managed to hold his country together and gain the advantage, and that perception has changed how he approaches the relationship.

Volker also pointed to Trump’s remark at this month’s NATO summit in Ankara that the two men have a good relationship, along with his endorsement of Ukrainian production of Patriot interceptors, calling it effectively a green light to supporters that backing Kyiv is now acceptable.

Allied officials noticed the change. Sweden’s foreign minister, Maria Malmer Stenergard, said the atmosphere in Ankara felt different from previous gatherings dominated by grim forecasts and American doubt. Ukraine has momentum, she argued, and support should increase precisely because there is now a chance to force Russia into serious negotiations.

A Shift Without Depth?

How durable any of this proves is unclear. Podcaster Tim Pool, previously a reliable critic, surprised observers with a post describing Ukraine as fighting for survival against an evil dictator and saying he had come to understand why a Ukrainian victory matters. By Monday he was suggesting that pro-Ukraine voices simply get more coverage, leaving his sincerity ambiguous. He did not respond to a request for comment.

Curt Mills, executive director of The American Conservative, offered a different explanation for the drift. In his view, the president promised a quick end to the war and has not delivered, and figures like Loomer are simply filling the vacuum that failure created.