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\"Now, I want to be honest with you. This could be a long and difficult battle, but the American people will be steadfast in our support of the people of Ukraine in the face of Putin’s immoral, unethical attacks on civilian populations,\" he added. \"We are united in our abhorrence of Putin’s depraved onslaught, and we are going to continue to have their backs as they fight for freedom, their democracy, their very survival -- and we are going to give Ukraine the arms to fight and defend themselves through all the difficult days ahead.\"

Over the past week, the U.S. has contributed $1 billion in new assistance to Ukraine.

\"PHOTO:
Alex Wong/Getty Images
PHOTO: President Joe Biden signs legislative action to provide security aid and support to Ukraine at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington, March 16, 2022.
>

But White House press secretary Jen Psaki also reiterated Tuesday that the administration doesn't support Zelenskyy's no-fly zone request because the U.S. has to consider its own national security, and as Biden has repeatedly put it, does not want to enter \"World War III.\"

\"We have the responsibility to do here is to assess what the impact is on the United States and our own national security,\" she said.

While the U.S. has imposed a slate of economic and trade sanctions to isolate Putin, the Biden administration has also flatly rejected U.S. troops fighting Russian forces in Ukraine and any help delivering MiG-29 fighter jets that Poland wants to get to the Ukrainians.

Earlier Wednesday, to a packed auditorium of lawmakers and standing ovations, Zelenskyy seized the spotlight to push Biden to contribute more lethal aid, lawmakers to sanction more companies with ties to Russia, and said if the U.S. cannot agree to support a no-fly zone, then to give Ukraine S-300 systems and other similar weapons to defend its skies.

\"PHOTO:
Drew Angerer/Getty Images
PHOTO: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy delivers a virtual address to Congress at the U.S. Capitol on March 16, 2022 in Washington, D.C. Zelenskyy addressed Congress as Ukraine continues to defend itself from an ongoing Russian invasion.
>
\"PHOTO:
Sarah Silbiger/Pool/Getty Images
PHOTO: Members of the Congress watch and react to video footage of the war in Ukraine being displayed as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during his virtual address at the U.S. Capitol on March 16, 2022, in Washington.
>

While the White House event allowed Biden to detail what the U.S. is doing in place of a no-fly zone, he was forced to respond to Zelenskyy's emotional appeal, in which he told Americans to remember Pearl Harbor and the 9/11 attacks when witnessing the terror in Ukraine and closed by calling out Biden by name, in English, to do more.

\"It's not enough to be the leader of the nation. Today it takes to be the leader of the world,\" Zelensky said. \"Being the leader of the world means to be the leader of peace. Peace in your country doesn't depend anymore only on you and your people. It depends on those next to you and those who are strong.\"

In remarks on the Senate floor following Zelenskyy's address, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell criticized the Biden administration for what he's characterized as a sluggish response to the crisis in Ukraine and outlined three steps the administration should take to pick up the pace.

McConnell called on Biden to expand the scope of U.S. lethal aid to Ukraine to include more effective long-range air defense capabilities, to deploy more U.S. forces to reinforce NATO's eastern flank and use new authorities to harden the defenses of frontline allies, and finally, for Biden to go \"beyond Brussels\" on his trip next week and to visit Eastern flank, NATO allies like Poland, Romania and Lithuania.

\"PHOTO:
J. Scott Applewhite/Pool via Getty Images
PHOTO: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, right, greets Ukrainian Ambassador to the U.S., Oksana Markarova, with Senator Mitch McConnell, left, as they arrive to hear Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speak to Congress, March 16, 2022 in Washington, D.C.
>

\"As the threat to Ukraine gathered whenever an opportunity to act has presented itself, the Biden administration has hesitated until the political pressure became overwhelming, or balked outright,\" McConnell said.

Although he made no direct mention of a no-fly zone, McConnell hit hard on the need to help Ukraine shore up its air defense, arguing the administration should quickly get Ukraine air defense systems \"that we should have helped Ukraine get weeks ago.\"

Biden will travel to Brussels next Thursday to meet with NATO leaders in his first European visit since Russian President Vladimir Putin started invading Ukraine, the White House announced Tuesday, to meet \"face-to-face\" with his European counterparts to assess Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

ABC News' Allison Pecorin, Molly Nagle, Conor Finnegan, Luis Martinez and Justin Gomez contributed to this report.

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