FirstFT: Zelenskyy’s plea to Congress

Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy capped a whirlwind day in Washington with an impassioned plea to Congress and the American people to keep up support for Kyiv after 300 days fighting Russia’s invasion.

“Your money is not charity, it’s an investment in the global security and democracy,” he told a joint session of Congress.

His appearance evoked comparisons to an address to members of Congress by UK prime minister Winston Churchill during the second world war in 1941 and came just weeks before Republicans were set to take control of the House.

He framed Kyiv’s fight as a global one and an important moment in a struggle to preserve the world order as he sought to shore up support from a critical ally in his first trip out of Ukraine since Russia invaded in February.

Before his address Zelenskyy met Joe Biden at the White House where he presented the president with a military medal from a frontline soldier commanding a unit armed by a US-supplied mobile artillery system.

The US president touted $1.85bn in new assistance, including a long-sought Patriot missile defence battery, and assured his Ukrainian counterpart that Washington was prepared to stand by Kyiv “as long as it takes”.

But after nearly four hours of talks, there were some clear signs of tension between the two presidents.

Zelenskyy questioned whether he could ever reach a “just peace” with Russia’s president Vladimir Putin after Biden and his officials argued that that was the outcome Ukraine’s president was fighting for.

“There can’t be any ‘just peace’ in the war that was imposed on us,” he said, adding Kyiv would not agree to anything short of a return to full territorial integrity and “payback for all the damages inflicted by Russian aggression”.

Zelenskyy’s visit to Washington comes at a critical time in the 10-month war. Officials in Kyiv have warned Moscow is gearing up for a possible winter offensive.

Five more stories in the news

1. Sam Bankman-Fried flown to the US The FTX co-founder landed in the US late last night having waived his right to challenge extradition. He is facing an eight-count indictment and is expected to make his first court appearance later today. Caroline Ellison, the former chief executive of Alameda Research, and Gary Wang, co-founder of FTX, pleaded guilty to fraud and agreed to co-operate with US prosecutors and agencies.

2. Donald Trump’s tax records show $53mn in net losses The former US president paid $1.8mn in federal income tax between 2015 and 2020, as he declared $53mn in net losses over the six-year period, according to a summary of his tax returns released by a Democratic-led US House committee.

3. Cathie Wood’s Ark sheds almost $50bn in assets since 2021 peak Wood’s flagship Ark Disruptive Innovation ETF has lost around two-thirds of its value this year and is on track for its worst annual performance, highlighting the scale of this year’s losses in speculative tech stocks.

4. Benjamin Netanyahu forms new Israeli government Israel’s longest-serving prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he has successfully formed his next government, which is expected to be the most rightwing administration in the history of the Jewish state. The new government will be sworn in late next week or at the start of the new year.

5. China tells factories to prioritise government Covid orders Local governments across China have begun requisitioning rapid-testing kits, face masks and cold and fever medicine produced in factories in their regions, in a battle for supplies to cope with a deluge of coronavirus infections that has followed the relaxation of the country’s zero-Covid containment policy.

The day ahead

Capitol riot report The congressional panel probing the January 6 2021 attack on the US Capitol said yesterday it would delay by at least one day the release of its final report outlining the case that former President Donald Trump should face criminal charges of inciting the deadly riot.

Economic data The Department of Commerce issues its third estimate of US third-quarter gross domestic product and a revised second estimate. The Department of Labor issues its weekly jobless claims figures. Data released earlier today showed the UK economy shrank more than expected in the third quarter.

FT Live at Davos will host a number of in-person and digital events alongside the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in January. The sessions will gather leaders in policy, business and finance to share insights into the big issues being debated and the solutions that may pave the way to renewed growth, stability and resilience. View the events and register for free here

What else we’re reading

Carlyle: the buyout pioneer in need of a CEO Carlyle has been without a permanent chief executive since the abrupt exit of Kewsong Lee in August, following a power struggle between the firm’s three co-founders. Fears that the trio are unwilling to relinquish control are diminishing the appeal for what should be one of the most coveted jobs on Wall Street.

Tech giants ditch office space in London and Europe Google’s parent Alphabet, Facebook parent Meta and enterprise software giant Salesforce are among the US technology groups seeking to abandon leased office space in London and Dublin. The cuts are a response to plunging valuations in the technology sector and are a new setback for the cities’ landlords.

Insurance industry pushes back on US climate risk data demand The US Treasury has proposed requiring insurers to hand over underwriting data, broken down by zip code and covering the past five years, in an attempt to probe whether hurricanes and wildfires are making insurance unaffordable for American homeowners. But insurers are resisting.

How England and Wales lost their religion Christianity’s grip on the national psyche has been loosening for more than a century, but November’s census has revealed a startling acceleration in this decline, raising profound questions about the evolving nature of society.

Why did one of Russia’s most esteemed musicians leave? Mikhail Voskresensky, former head of the piano section at the Moscow Conservatory, left Russia after Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. His saga underscores the widening splits in Russia’s intelligentsia and the possible reshaping of its cultural and intellectual life for years to come.

Messi and his squad’s victory cannot dispel Argentina’s travails Argentina has been euphoric since its third World Cup victory on Sunday, reports Lucinda Elliot from Buenos Aires. But with inflation nearing 100 per cent and the collapse of the peso against the dollar this year the hangover is coming, she says.

The people we said goodbye to in 2022

Terry Hall, lead singer of British pop group The Specials, died this week. He is one of the many figures from politics, the arts and business that the FT’s obituaries have covered this year.