Democrats’ victory in Congress could strengthen Ukraine’s hand against Russia | News

Kyiv, Ukraine – Kyrylo, an injured drone technician from eastern Ukraine, doesn’t care much about the results of the U.S. midterm elections.

Tuesday’s vote sparked a “blue wave” of victories for the Democratic Party, which will control both houses of the new Congress and provide a check on President Donald Trump.

But that doesn’t mean much for the Ukrainian military.

“We have already learned not to depend on America,” said the 37-year-old, who is recovering from a serious bruise in a kyiv hospital after a Russian glide bomb hit his bunker.

He asked Al Jazeera not to disclose his last name, in accordance with war protocol.

“Trump has failed us time and time again, sold us out to Russia and we are still standing and kicking the Russians,” he said. “We are no longer dependent on American money and weapons. The whole world now wants to buy our drones.”

Under Trump, Washington has gradually stopped paying much of Ukraine’s war bills. While the amount of financial and military aid has nearly reached $200 billion since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022 through the end of 2024, since 2025, U.S. aid has slowed to a trickle.

From October 2025 to March, Kyiv received only $8.2 billion in military aid under “legacy pipelines” dating back to the administration of US President Joe Biden. The transactions will have cost an additional $13 billion once the supplies are complete.

Even though Europe has shouldered most of the financial burden, spending $83 billion in 2025 alone, nearly a third of all weapons come from American companies, according to the Kiel Institute, a German think tank.

Some aid could be restored, and Democrats have pledged to examine Trump’s ties to Russia and conduct in-depth investigations focused on allegations of corruption within the Trump family.

Investigations will include their links to Russian politicians, intelligence services and oligarchs, such as Umar Kremlev, who allegedly paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for Donald Trump Jr’s wedding celebrations in the Bahamas in May.

Democrats have already indicated they are prepared to issue subpoenas and force the disclosure of executive branch documents, including those related to Ukraine, once they take control of Congress on January 3.

“Ukraine’s positions could become stronger,” Volodymyr Fesenko, head of the Kyiv-based Penta think tank, told Al Jazeera. “But we need to maintain bipartisan support.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said of the midterm results: “We have support from both parties.” He said he was “grateful to the Republicans, but the Democrats are very clear in their support for Ukraine and providing assistance.”

Loss of Republicans favorable to Ukraine

But getting more support from the U.S. Congress won’t be easy, as several Republicans who supported Ukraine lost their seats.

The “blue wave” unseated Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, who co-chaired the Congressional Ukraine Caucus and was one of kyiv’s strongest supporters.

Other notable pro-Ukraine Republicans are Don Bacon of Nebraska, a self-described “Reaganite” fiercely opposed to Russia, and Mike Lawler of New York, who voted for the Ukraine Support Act.

At the same time, kyiv must appoint a new ambassador to Washington. Olha Stefanishyna, a former deputy prime minister, was fired in August during an investigation into her “illegal enrichment.”

The ambassador works with Congress and organizes contacts with kyiv and legislators’ trips to Ukraine.

“That is why we must first appoint a new ambassador,” Fesenko said.

And while some Democratic supporters are urging their party to impeach Trump, kyiv would be on the losing side, analysts say.

“God forbid that Ukraine is subject to a (third) impeachment proceeding because of the negative experience of Trump’s first presidency,” Fesenko said. “This caused Trump to adopt a stable negative attitude towards Ukraine.”

Trump’s first impeachment in 2019 related to accusations that he pressured Kyiv to investigate Biden and Biden’s son Hunter, who served on the board of Burisma, a Ukrainian natural gas company implicated in corruption schemes.

Democrats said Trump froze $390 million in military aid to Ukraine as leverage at a time when kyiv badly needed U.S. weapons to continue fighting Russian-backed separatists.

Now, before the new Congress takes office, Trump will likely pressure Ukraine to accept an expedited peace deal with Russia.

“Because when Russia is not willing to give in, the quickest way to resolve the issue – either through a truce or freezing the war – is only possible if (Trump) twists kyiv’s arms,” Kiev analyst Igar Tyshkevych told Al Jazeera.

“That’s why the next two months will be rather complicated for Ukraine,” he said.

As Trump currently has Republican majorities in both chambers, he “will attempt to demonstrate the effectiveness of his policies to diminish the possible level of confrontation with the new Congress,” Tyshkevych said.

The new Congress will face a dilemma rooted in corruption allegations involving top Ukrainian officials and their alleged misappropriation of U.S. aid.

“On the one hand, there is a political conviction to continue supporting Ukraine and on the other the political necessity to put an end to questions, suspicions and accusations of corruption of Ukrainian leaders,” he said.

Pro-Kremlin voices are already counting Moscow’s possible losses.

“The Democrats will redouble their efforts to prevent Trump from establishing a dialogue with Moscow, demand the resumption of direct US military aid to kyiv, insist on the restoration of transatlantic unity on the Ukrainian issue and propose new sanctions against Russia and its main trading partners,” wrote Moscow-based political analyst Andrei Kortunov in an opinion article for the Kommersant daily.

The Democrats “will open investigations into the way he negotiates with us,” Moscow analyst Malek Dudakov told the daily Gazeta.ru.

The Russian Foreign Ministry dismissed these concerns, saying Moscow’s foreign policy “does not depend on fluctuations in the political barometer of other countries.”

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov spoke in flattering terms, saying: “President Trump continues to exercise his powers. We sincerely hope that he will continue his efforts to restore peace.”