President Joe Biden on Wednesday said he is willing to make “significant compromises” on border policy as he made a forceful and urgent plea for Congress to continue to provide aid to Ukraine before lawmakers leave for the holidays. 

The president noted he wanted to deliver the message ahead of the U.S. Senate's procedural vote on his more than $100 national security package on Wednesday. But the vote ultimately did not pass, with Democrats and Republicans far apart on border security provisions in the bill..  

Two days after his administration issued a dire warning that the U.S. would run out of funding to provide weapons and assistance to Ukraine by the end of the year, Biden, speaking from the White House, said inaction by Congress would be a “gift” to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“If Putin takes Ukraine, he won’t stop there,” Biden said, adding if he attacks a NATO ally we will have “American troops fighting Russian troops.”

“Russian forces are committing war crimes. It's as simple as that,” Biden said, calling it “stunning,” that Congress has yet to pass his $106 billion national security package containing funds for Ukraine amid Russia’s invasion, Israel as it battles Hamas, the Indo-Pacific as China exerts its influence in the region and the U.S.-Mexico border.

“Extreme Republicans are playing chicken with our national security, holding Ukraine’s funding hostage to their extreme partisan border policies,” Biden said.

The president’s expressed openness to compromises at the border are particularly significant as Republicans in Congress are pledging they will not support Ukraine aid in Biden’s request without meaningful border policy changes.

“But in terms of changes in policy and to provide resources we need at the border, I’m willing to change policy as well,” Biden said. “I’ve asked for billions of dollars for more border agents, more immigration judges, more asylum officers.”

“Republicans have to decide if they want a political issue or if they want a solution to the border,” he added. “It cannot be sustained as it is now. We need a real solution.”

A bipartisan group of senators have been negotiating for weeks on the issue, hoping to find a solution that can get Biden’s package over the finish line, without much apparent progress.

“Republicans think they get everything they want without any bipartisan compromise,” Biden said. “Now they’re willing to literally kneecap Ukraine on the battlefield and damage our national security in the process.”

Oklahoma Sen. James Lankford, a lead on the border negotiations who the president called "a decent guy" in his remarks on Wednesday, disputed Biden's characterization that Republicans "walked away" from the negotiating table.

"I never walked away," he told reporters. "We are going to continue to engage on it."

"Everyone will characterize that one way or the other," Lankford added. "We're clearly engaging in negotiations trying to solve this."

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., put the bill on the floor for a crucial test vote Wednesday night, but it failed after Republicans blocked the bill for a lack of border measure provisions that have become tied to Ukraine assistance. Schumer changed his vote to no at the end to allow him to bring up the measure again in the future.

Biden’s address comes hours after he huddled with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy and leaders of the Group of Seven advanced democracies, which have staunchly supported Ukraine against Russia’s ongoing invasion.

“If we don’t support Ukraine, what is the rest of the world going to do?" Biden asked.

“We’re the reason Putin hasn’t totally overrun Ukraine,” later added.

The U.S. on Wednesday announced a $175 million package of military aid to Ukraine, including guided missiles for the High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS), anti-armor systems and high-speed anti-radiation missiles, according to U.S. officials. In a press release announcing the funding, the State Department noted this will be "one of the last security assistance packages" the U.S. can provide to Ukraine without additional funding approved by Congress. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.