'The Family' Forces Zelenskyy To Cut Deal For Aid From U.S.

If you see evangelical House Republicans softening their opposition to military aid for Ukraine, don’t assume it’s divine intervention.

While most mainstream news hasn’t picked up on it, religious media outlets have started to notice how Russian President Vladimir Putin is waging a war on that most sacred of right-wing cows: Religious freedom.

That message is coming — with elements of truth but also an agenda — from a small but well-connected cadre of Ukrainian and American evangelicals, including prayer-breakfast leaders.

And right-wing Ukrainian evangelicals with strong ties to American counterparts just won an important ask from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, right as House Republicans are considering whether to help him.

The dynamics of all this carry echoes of the “perfect” phone call in which then-Pres. Donald Trump threatened to block aid to Ukraine. Except this time it’s played out in public, for evangelical audiences, anyway.

The quiet, religious diplomacy has been bookended by two high-powered meetings, virtually unreported in the U.S., that could change the course of the war and Ukraine’s future.

One meeting involved House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA). That was January, in DC. The other was last week in Ukraine, with Zelenskyy himself.

Evangelical Bookends

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