Zelenskyy made a secret phone call to Mitch McConnell urging him to pass a provision that would give Ukraine the seized fortunes of Russian oligarchs: report

Following Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's historic visit to the US last week, Congress passed a provision to giveUkraine the assets that were seized from Russians.

A secret phone call between Zelenskyy and McConnell may have caused the approval of the measure. One day before his White House visit and address to Congress, the Senate minority leader received a phone call from the Ukrainian president.

Zelenskyy tried to convince McConnell that the money from the seized assets should be used to rebuild Ukraine, according to three sources.

The provision passed as an amendment to the bipartisan spending bill after it passed the Senate in a 68-29 vote on December 22. Emergency assistance toUkraine was included in the bill.

The bill was signed by the president.

During Zelenskyy's visit, the US announced an additional amount of military assistance to Ukraine.

Since the start of the invasion, the US has frozen or seized billions of dollars in assets belonging to Russians. The US was limited in how it could use those assets, though President Joe Biden floated a plan to sell those assets to helpUkraine.

McConnell and Zelenskyy's representatives didn't reply to Insider's request for comment.