McCarthy immediately dismissed Zelenskyi's account: He didn't need to visit Ukraine to understand the situation on the ground, he told CNN.

McCarthy was elected Speaker of the House of Representatives in January, making him the most influential Republican in the US Congress. As such, he could significantly impede US President Joe Biden's massive aid program to Ukraine.

Recently there had been increasingly critical voices from Republicans in view of the massive US support for Kiev. McCarthy himself had declared last October, before his election as Speaker of the House of Representatives, that there would be no more "blank checks" for Ukraine in the future.

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