2024-01-18 00:46:20
After US President Joe Biden met with leaders of both parties in Congress, the question of future US aid to Ukraine remains open, but the White House is optimistic. Biden is encouraged by the progress in the negotiations and is striving for a cross-party agreement, it said in a statement on Wednesday evening (local time). The Republicans are linking the release of further funds to a tightening of US asylum policy.
The Democrat Biden had scheduled the meeting on Wednesday to bring movement to the debate. The Republican leader of the House of Representatives, Mike Johnson, spoke afterwards of a “productive meeting”. At the same time, he emphasized that US border policy was his party’s top priority. “We understand that there are concerns about Ukraine’s security and sovereignty,” Johnson said. “But the American people have the same concerns about our own domestic sovereignty and our security.”
The White House announced in mid-December that the funds approved so far would be used up by the end of last year. The last time military aid was provided to Ukraine was on December 27th.
At the end of October, Biden had already requested a $105 billion (96.53 billion euros) aid package from the US Congress with support for Ukraine and Israel. Of this, more than $61 billion is earmarked for Ukraine, which is being attacked by Russia. The USA is considered Ukraine’s most important ally in the fight against the Russian invasion. Since the war began in February 2022, the United States has provided or pledged more than $44 billion in military aid to Kyiv.
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