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President Joe Biden invited his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky to the White House on Tuesday after the administration warned it will run out of money for aid to Ukraine within weeks unless embattled U.S. lawmakers act.
The two leaders will “discuss Ukraine’s urgent needs” as it fights a Russian invasion, and “the vital importance of continued U.S. support at this critical time,” White House press secretary Karine Jean said Sunday. Pierre, in a statement. .
The Ukrainian presidency said in its own statement that the meeting will focus on key issues such as “increased defense cooperation between Ukraine and the United States, in particular through joint projects on the production of weapons and air defense systems, as well as as the coordination of efforts”. between our countries over the next year.
Last week, Republican senators blocked $106 billion in emergency aid primarily for Ukraine and Israel after conservatives objected to the exclusion of immigration reforms they had demanded as part of the package.
About $60 billion of that aid would go to Ukraine, adding to the $111 billion it has already received from the United States.
President Joe Biden invited Ukraine leader Volodymyr Zelensky to the White House on Tuesday amid a push for Congress to approve more aid. The couple is photographed in September in DC.
The Biden administration is increasing pressure on Congress to provide billions more in aid to kyiv in its war with Russia. In the photo, President Joe Biden and his wife, First Lady Jill Biden, welcomed Zelensky and his wife, Ukraine’s First Lady Olena Zelenska, to the White House.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre announced the visit in a statement Sunday.
The conservative opposition was a setback for Biden, who had urged lawmakers to approve the funds, warning that Russian President Vladimir Putin would not limit himself to victory in Ukraine and could even attack a NATO nation.
“This can’t wait,” Biden said in an impassioned televised speech at the White House on Wednesday.
“Frankly, I think it’s amazing that we’ve gotten to this point, where Republicans in Congress are willing to give Putin the biggest gift he could hope for.”
The White House said Tuesday’s meeting will come at a vital time, “as Russia escalates its missile and drone attacks against Ukraine.”
In early December, Putin signed a decree to increase Russian forces by 15 percent to support his invasion of Ukraine, increasing the army by about 170,000 people.
Ukrainian military soldiers fired the MT-12 or 2A29 ‘Rapira’ cannon, a Soviet 100mm smoothbore anti-tank gun, last week in Avdiivka, Ukraine. Both Ukraine and Russia have recently claimed advances in Avdiivka, where Russia continues a long-running campaign to capture the city, located in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region.
Local residents stand near their apartment building and cars damaged during a Russian missile attack in Kharkiv, Ukraine, on Friday.
Moscow has recently signaled a possible peace deal, albeit one involving a reduced, neutral Ukraine that would be impossible for Zelensky to accept.
In a flurry of diplomatic activity after the White House announced Zelensky’s visit, an aide to Mike Johnson said the new Republican House speaker, who has been trying to link aid to Ukraine with funding for the U.S. border security, will also meet with the Ukrainian leader on Tuesday.
And a Senate official said Democratic Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Republican Leader Mitch McConnell also invited Zelensky to speak at an all-senators meeting Tuesday morning, a week after several Republicans angrily walked out of a classified briefing on Ukraine that he was supposed to address. via video.
Shalanda Young, head of the White House Office of Management and Budget, reiterated that fear on CBS’s Face the Nation on Sunday, warning that “our national security is also influenced” by the fate of Ukraine.
Biden has asked Congress for a $110 billion package of wartime funding for Ukraine and Israel, along with other national security priorities. Zelensky walks along the White House colonnade to the Oval Office alongside Biden last September.
Some in Congress remain skeptical that any increase in aid to Ukraine will make any difference to the war effort. Biden and Zelensky are seen in the Oval Office of the White House in the fall
‘What happens if Putin marches through Ukraine? Whats Next? “NATO countries, our sons and daughters, risk being part of a larger conflict,” he stated.
But Republicans remained skeptical, with Senator JD Vance, a close ally of former US President Donald Trump, dismissing the idea that Putin would put NATO countries in the region at risk as “absurd”.
He told CNN on Sunday that he opposes a “blank check” for Ukraine.
‘It is necessary to articulate what the ambition is. What is $61 billion going to achieve that $100 billion hasn’t achieved? Vance said.
“It is in the best interest of the United States to accept that Ukraine will have to cede some territory to the Russians and that we must end the war.”
Democrat Chris Murphy said the money would make a difference because Russia is struggling to fund its war effort.
“It can change the outcome of this war,” Murphy said. “Because at the same time as we make a renewed commitment to Ukraine, Russia’s ability to continue fighting this war is at risk.”
The US State Department on Wednesday announced an interim tranche of $175 million in new aid to Ukraine, including precious HIMARS rockets, projectiles, missiles and munitions.
The funding dispute underscores signs that Western support for Ukraine is eroding just as kyiv’s counteroffensive falters and Putin’s forces push for new gains.
Ukraine’s offensive has used billions of dollars’ worth of Western weapons, but the front lines have barely moved in more than a year and Russian attacks along the front have intensified.
The White House said Biden’s meeting will come at a vital time, “as Russia escalates its missile and drone attacks against Ukraine.”
In early December, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree to increase Russian forces by 15 percent, increasing the army by about 170,000 people.
In early December, Putin signed a decree to increase Russian forces by 15 percent, increasing the army by about 170,000 people.
Moscow has recently signaled a possible peace deal, albeit one involving a reduced, neutral Ukraine that would be impossible for Zelensky to accept.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken insisted Sunday that “Ukraine has done an extraordinary job” in defending itself.
“The choice is very clear,” he said on ABC. ‘If we do this and help Ukraine maintain the gains it has made, we will help ensure that Russia continues to suffer strategic failure in Ukraine. That is a route to follow.
“The other way forward is to do something where the only people who support it are in Moscow, and maybe in Tehran and Beijing, which is not to provide this assistance,” he said.