Zelensky and Biden met at the White House. Photo: EFE.
The President of the United States, Joe Bidenhe announced this Tuesday at a meeting in the White House with his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskythe consent of the Disbursement of an additional $200 million in military aid to Ukraine. Biden warned Republicans blocking approval of new military aid to Kiev to deal with the Russian attack “History will judge those who turn their backs on Ukraine”.
“I just signed a $200 million disbursement from the Department of Defense to Ukraine,” the US president told the press at the start of the meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart in the Oval Office. Biden told Zelensky he didn't want the Ukrainians to give up and warned that Russian President Vladimir Putin wanted to attack Ukrainian power plants again in the winter to make the situation worse.
Republican blockade
Zelensky met with Biden in Washington for the third time since the start of the war And this comes at a very delicate moment because the Republican opposition has blocked the approval of new funds for Ukraine in the US Congress. The 200 million announced this Tuesday are part of a budget that is about to be exhausted. Biden has so far unsuccessfully asked Congress to approve a new $106 billion packageincluding a 61,000 game for Ukraine and another 15,000 for Israel.
In this context Biden sent a message to Republicans in Congress so that they approve the new budget for Ukraine before they go on vacation. Otherwise he said: They would give Putin “the best Christmas presents.”. The Democratic leader warned that “history will judge those who turn their backs on Ukraine” and took a shot at Republicans: “It's time for them to rethink what they're doing.”
Biden quoted a Kremlin-affiliated Russian TV host as saying “Well done, Republicans” when they decided to block support for Kiev. “If you're being praised by Russian propagandists, maybe it's time to rethink what you're doing,” the Democratic president said.
On your part Zelensky He thanked Biden for the support shown so far and assured that his country “can win the war,” but said it needed more air defense systems to do so. “In 2024, whoever controls the skies will determine the length of the war.”said the Ukrainian president, dressed in his traditional khaki attire.
Amid Republican suspicions about Ukraine's ability to win wars, Zelensky listed battlefield victories, including the destruction of Russian ships in the Black Sea. “I received the signals, they were more than positive,” Zelensky told reporters at the White House after several meetings with members of Congress and President Joe Biden. But we have to wait and see whether they lead to “concrete results,” the Ukrainian president added.
Tour of the congress
Zelensky arrived at the White House in the afternoon after visiting Congress, where he met with lawmakers from both parties. As leaked after the closed session in Congress, Zelensky told senators that he could not imagine that Congress would not approve the money for Ukraine and answered questions from lawmakers about the use of US aid.
After the meeting, the President of the House of Representatives, the Republican, said Michael Johnson, demanded clarity from the White House about what the US is doing in Ukraine and reiterated that his condition for approving the package was a restriction on asylum policies at the southern border. “What the Biden administration apparently wants is billions more dollars without proper oversight“With no real strategy for victory,” Johnson said.
On the other hand, the head of the Democratic majority in the Senate, the other chamber of Congress, emphasized the importance of aid to Ukraine. “If we lose, Putin will win, and that will be very dangerous for the United States.”explained Chuck Schumer after a meeting with Zelensky, at a time when Russia is talking about significant military advances in the Zaporizhzhia region of southern Ukraine.
Russian advances
On Tuesday, the Kremlin said any new US aid would be doomed to failure. Russia is exerting increasing pressure on eastern and southern Ukraine. According to U.S. intelligence, casualties have been high: 13,000 Russian soldiers have been killed or wounded since October, and more than 220 vehicles have been lost on the Avdivka-Novopavlivka front line since Russia resumed its attack in October.
The Russian army has made important progress in the partially occupied Ukrainian region of Zaporizhzhia, Yevgeny Balitsky, the Moscow-appointed governor, said on Tuesday. Two days ago, the Russians also launched a “massive offensive” around Avdivka and Mariinka on the Eastern Front, said Oleksandre Tarnavski, the Ukrainian commander in the region.
Theoretically, the US Congress only has until Friday, when the parliamentary recess begins, to reach an agreement. The White House warned that it would “run out of money” by the end of the year if nothing was done. Ukraine fears that the ongoing US standoff will also impact European military aid.
Criticism of the Israeli government
On the sidelines of the meeting with Zelensky, the US president said that Israel was losing support in the world for its “indiscriminate bombings” in the Gaza Strip. Biden assured that the government led by Benjamin Netanyahu is not interested in a two-state solution to end the conflict with Palestine and believed it to be the most conservative in the history of the Hebrew land.
“One of the things that 'Bibi' (Netanyahu) understands is that Israel's security may depend on the United States. But now it has more than the United States.” He has the European Union, he has Europe, he has most of the world supporting him. However, due to the indiscriminate bombings, they begin to lose this support” said the president, according to the online newspaper Times of Israel.
During a private event in Washington to raise money for his re-election campaign in next year's presidential election, Biden opined that Netanyahu is “the most conservative government in Israel's history” and added that the current Israeli authorities “don't want a two.” -governmental solution.
That's why the Democratic leader suggested that Netanyahu should “change” his government to find a long-term solution to the conflict with the Palestinians. The Likud party leader heads a coalition government made up of far-right religious nationalist parties and leaders of the settler movement that occupies the Palestinian territories in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
(Taken from page 12)