VOLODYMYR ZELENSKY’S Washington visit to ask for more weaponry “will only bring us closer to direct war with Russia,” US peace activists warned today.

The Ukrainian president travelled to the US capital today in his first foreign trip since the Russian invasion began in February.

In the early days of the invasion he declined a US offer to evacuate him, when Washington assumed Kiev would quickly fall to Russian forces.

He was due to meet US President Joe Biden and address Congress after the Morning Star went to press.

Mr Zelensky said he was visiting to “strengthen resilience and defence capabilities,” with the US Congress now considering a $45 billion (£37bn) tranche of arms and aid, the biggest assistance package yet.

The US announced $1.8bn (£1.5bn) in new aid today, including a Patriot missile battery and precision-guided bombs. Russia has stated that the Patriot systems and any crews accompanying them will be seen as legitimate targets.

But US peace campaign Code Pink said the Zelensky trip was a bid “to shore up support for another $45bn for Ukraine at a time when many US taxpayers are questioning this blank cheque for an unwinnable war.”

Campaigner Medea Benjamin said the war “must move from the battlefield to the negotiating table — no more dollars for war! Peace talks instead!”

Supplies of more advanced weaponry would “only bring us closer to a direct war with Russia … and nuclear armageddon,” she added.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov said more weapons would not “bode well” for Ukraine, as Russian bombardments continued to pound the country’s energy infrastructure.

At a Kremlin meeting with senior officers today Russian leaders vowed to continue the war until achieving their aims — originally stated as “demilitarisation, de-Nazification and de-communisation” but now presumably including full pacification of four regions Russia has formally annexed, which remain active warzones.

President Vladimir Putin called on the military to analyse Western weaponry and battle tactics to modernise itself, while Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said Russia would expand its armed forces from one to one-and-a-half million troops and build new bases along its Scandinavian borders in response to Finland and Sweden joining Nato.