WASHINGTON — President Biden blasted Republicans Tuesday for resisting his request for another $61.4 billion in aid for Ukraine, saying they were poised to give Russian President Vladimir Putin “the greatest Christmas gift.” 

Biden hosted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House as he repeatedly tore into skeptics of the request.

“Congress needs to pass supplemental funding for Ukraine before they break for the holiday recess — before they give Putin the greatest Christmas gift they could possibly give him,” Biden said before meeting Zelensky in the Oval Office.

The Ukrainian leader met earlier in the day with US senators and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) as he sought to woo holdouts.

A sizeable group of Republicans in both chambers of Congress want to link another tranche of aid to increased oversight of spending, a clear definition of US and Ukrainian war aims and unrelated changes to US-Mexico border policy reforms.

“Russian loyalists in Moscow celebrated when Republicans voted to block Ukraine aid last week,” Biden said at an evening press conference with Zelensky.

“The host of a Kremlin run show literally said, ‘Well done, Republicans. That’s good for us,'” the president added.

“If you’re being celebrated by Russian propagandists, it might be time to rethink what you’re doing. History will judge harshly those who turned their back on freedom’s cause.”

The 81-year-old added: “If we don’t stop Putin, it will endanger the freedom of everyone, almost everywhere, Putin will keep going. And would-be aggressors everywhere would be emboldened to try to take what they can by force.”

Zelensky, for his part, refused to even consider peace talks with Moscow to end the nearly two-year war, saying through a translator that the prospect would be “insane.”

Johnson told reporters after his morning meeting with Zelensky that there was no resolution in sight to the impasse.

The Louisiana Republican said that he told Zelensky privately that “we stand with him and against Putin,” but that he was concerned about the lack of a plan to resolve the conflict and provide oversight of the proposed spending.

“I have asked the White House since the day that I was handed the gavel as speaker for clarity. We need clear articulation of the strategy to allow Ukraine to win, and thus far their responses have been insufficient,” Johnson said.

“They have not provided us the clarity and the detail that we requested over and over since literally 24 hours after I was handed the gavel … And so what the Biden administration seems to be asking for is billions of additional dollars with no appropriate oversight, no clear strategy to win, and none of the answers that I think the American people are owed.”

The US president in October requested the added funding— on top of $113 billion already approved for Ukraine — and asked Congress to tie it to a more popular $14.3 billion outlay for Israel following Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks that killed an estimated 1,200 people.

The White House is warning funds are running low for Kyiv to resist Moscow’s stalled invasion, though Biden said Tuesday he authorized a fresh $200 million “drawdown” of allocated resources.

The Ukrainian leader, wearing his now-familiar wartime outfit of a sweatshirt and olive pants, was flanked Tuesday morning by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), both supporters of further funding, as he arrived for a closed-door briefing with senators.

Zelensky’s subsequent meeting with Johnson was seen as crucial in his bid to break the gridlock amid mounting opposition to funding both in US polling and among legislators.

The speaker has tried to forge a middle-ground approach, including by supporting more oversight and congressional Republican efforts to tie Ukraine funds to US-Mexico border policy changes.

“In the last three months, October, November, December alone, we’ve had more illegal crossings at the border than in any entire year during the Obama administration,” Johnson said after meeting Zelensky. “The American people see this. They feel it acutely. They see all the terrible societal ills that come from this, and it must be addressed.”

The speaker added: “I’ve made this very clear — again, from the very beginning, when I was handed the gavel — we needed clarity on what we’re doing in Ukraine and how we’ll have proper oversight of the spending of precious taxpayer dollars … and we needed a transformative change at the border. Thus far, we’ve gotten neither.”

Johnson went on to say that “the Senate has been MIA on this” and argued the pileup of legislation “is not the House’s issue right now. The issue is with the White House and the Senate, and I implore them to do their job because the time is urgent. And we do want to do the right thing here.”

Earlier Tuesday, Johnson told radio host Hugh Hewitt he was inclined to let the chamber take its Christmas break without a deal on aid spending.

Johnson told The Post in an interview last month that he was interested in redirecting more than $300 billion in seized Russian assets to fund the war, but that idea hasn’t come to fruition.

Biden and his aides have repeatedly claimed that funding is running out and that without American aid the Ukrainian government could be powerless to stop Russia’s invasion.

Republicans have responded that the Biden administration has given no indication of what would constitute a victory for Ukraine.

“They’ve not explained to us what the endgame is,” Johnson told Hewitt Tuesday. “I mean, our, the US ambassador to Ukraine told me in my office just a few weeks ago that she believes the endgame is a returning to the 1991 boundary lines, which is to retake Crimea.

“And I said ‘Ma’am, are you aware that that’s not what your boss says?’ I mean, they don’t even know in the White House itself what the strategy is.“

The House approved Israel funding without the larger Ukrainian request last month, reflecting substantial resistance to more funding in the lower chamber.

Some senators opposed to additional Ukraine funding vented about Zelensky’s visit — one year after he received a hero’s welcome last December when he addressed a joint meeting of Congress.

After Zelensky said Monday, “if there’s anyone inspired by unresolved issues on Capitol Hill it is just [Russian President Vladimir] Putin and his sick clique,” Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) responded, “Great to see Zelensky has all the nuance of a resistance Twitter liberal. Disgraceful. And gross that he’s coming to the Senate to apply pressure against Republicans as we fight for more border security.”

A Pew Research Center poll released this month found that 31% of Americans say that the US is providing “too much” support to Ukraine, while 18% say “not enough” and 29% say “about right.” There was a heavy partisan skew, with 48% of Republicans saying “too much,” versus 16% of Democrats.

A Wall Street Journal poll released Monday found 37% of voters saying the US was doing “too much” for Ukraine, with 20% saying “not enough” and 31% saying Washington was doing “about the right amount” to support Kyiv.