The sixth meeting between Joe Biden and Volodymyr Zelensky since September 2021, next Tuesday at the White House, was overshadowed by the insistence of Republicans in Congress to refuse to approve aid packages for Kiev worth around 55 billion euros. Still, the president of Ukraine will leave the United States with the promise of another 200 million dollars (about 185 million euros), announced by his North American counterpart at the beginning of the meeting between the two in the Oval Office.
Joe Biden told Zelenskiy that it would be a “Christmas present” for Vladimir Putin if Congress did not approve the new military aid to Kiev, but even with the Republican blockade he assured: “We will support you.” The 200 million announced yesterday by the President of the United States will come from the Department of Defense.
Volodymyr Zelensky argued that Kiev could still defeat Russia despite the Congress blockade, stating that Ukrainian troops are “proving every day that Ukraine can win.”
Before the meeting with Joe Biden, Ukraine’s president was in the Senate, where he had called for continued economic and military support for Kiev at a time when the North American Congress is divided over whether to approve a new aid package.
During a session in the upper house of Congress, Zelensky explained to senators the importance of Washington’s support in the war effort against Russia, emphasizing that it is not only Ukraine’s future that is at stake.
Zelenskiy also listed demands that Ukraine expects to receive under a new US military aid package, including long-range weapons and air defense, to counter Russian power in the airspace and protect civilians and critical infrastructure.
The Ukrainian president also met with the leader of the House of Representatives, Republican Mike Johnson, who assured Zelensky that the conditions for helping Ukraine remain unchanged for the time being, and emphasized that any additional security spending should first be done through “our own national security” to go. “What the Biden administration appears to be asking for is billions of additional dollars without proper oversight, without a clear strategy for winning and without the answers I believe the American people are owed,” Johnson said.
It should be remembered that Republicans argue that this new aid package for Ukraine must be accompanied by investments to control the security of the border with Mexico, the situation of which, as Johnson defined, is an “absolute catastrophe”. The aid package in question amounts to approximately 55 billion euros.
The Ukrainian president did not comment on his meeting with Johnson, but said discussions with Senate leaders were “friendly and sincere.” Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer warned after a meeting with Zelensky that Ukraine needs help “soon” to prevent Russian forces from defeating Kiev.
The Kremlin commented in a joking tone on Tuesday on the impact of US aid, echoing the arguments of some Republicans who say there is no point in continuing to arm Ukraine now that Kiev’s summer counteroffensive has stalled (see box ). “The tens of billions of dollars pumped into Ukraine have not helped the country achieve success on the battlefield,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. “The tens of billions of dollars that Ukraine wants to receive are also headed for the same fiasco.”
The EU wants to use Russian resources for reconstruction
Brussels on Tuesday proposed transferring profits from frozen Russian state assets, a step toward sending money to Ukraine, a community source said. The EU has frozen around 200 billion euros in assets of Russia’s central banks as a sanction for Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, with around 90% of these funds held by international depository organization Euroclear, based in Belgium.
In its proposal, which must be approved by all 27, the European Commission took a cautious approach by first saying that depositors such as Euroclear would have to segregate and isolate the interest or profits earned on frozen assets, the source said. that there would be a second proposal later on how the profits could be transferred to a fund that would go to Kiev. “They should be used to help Ukraine rebuild and recover,” the source said.
Source: DN
