US President Joe Biden said the United States would not “give up” on Ukraine after Congress abandoned $6 billion in aid to avert a government shutdown, even as Republicans linked further funding to contentious border security.
“I want to assure our American allies, the American people and the Ukrainian people that you can count on our support,” he said on Sunday. “We’re not going away.”
Biden added that there was “overwhelming support on both sides” for helping Kyiv, urging lawmakers to “stop playing games — and get this done.”
In a fraught weekend on Capitol Hill, lawmakers omitted additional funding for Ukraine from a bipartisan bill that would have funded the U.S. government through Nov. 17, a surprising last-minute move by the White House. Surprising compromise.
Just days ago, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited Washington to try to drum up support for renewed aid.
Aid to Ukraine has been a flashpoint in U.S. politics for months, but the move to strip it from the deal still shocked many of Kyiv’s allies.
During a visit to Kyiv on Sunday, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said he was “surprised” by the decision and said “we must deeply regret it”. In any case, Europe will continue to support Kyiv, he added: “We have not waited for this decision…”. . Our support for Ukraine not only continues but grows. “
Nils Schmid, spokesman for Germany’s ruling Social Democratic Party, warned that “Ukraine risks falling victim to the radical republicans.”
“I hope that the bipartisan majority in Congress that wants continued support for Ukraine will quickly pass a resolution,” he said. “Otherwise the credibility of U.S. foreign policy will be seriously damaged.”
On Sunday, Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy told CBS News that while he was committed to supporting Ukraine, “the number one priority for me is America and our border.”
“I’m going to make sure arms are delivered to Ukraine, but if the border is not secure, they’re not going to get some big package,” he said.
South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham told CBS News there is bipartisan support in the Senate for aiding Ukraine and hardening the southern border.
“I think Democrats support significant border security reform, but we have to tie it to Ukraine,” he said. He added that a majority of Republicans in the upper chamber would support “a combination of border security, Ukraine funding and disaster relief aid.”
But Biden urged Republicans to “keep their commitment to support Ukraine. They said they would support Ukraine in a separate vote.”
“Under no circumstances can we allow U.S. support for Ukraine to be disrupted,” Biden said on Sunday.
Much of the opposition to helping Kyiv comes from progressive House Republicans close to former President Donald Trump, who were already unhappy with McCarthy’s compromises with the White House on spending issues.
Among them is Matt Gaetz, a hard-line Republican from Florida who said on Sunday he would oust McCarthy as speaker this week because he worked with Democrats to avert a government shutdown. McCarthy said he was confident he would survive.
Conservative MP Alicia Kearns, chair of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, admitted that “on the face of it” the incident was a “victory for Putin” but insisted she “remains convinced that the United States has provided us with Everything you need to be confident.”
Biden asked Congress in August to provide Ukraine with an additional $24 billion on top of the $113 billion already approved since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Officials warned that any lapse in assistance could have adverse effects on the battlefield.
However, Ukrainian officials appear to believe there will be no substantial change in U.S. support.
“If Russia thinks it can ‘wait’ for military aid to Ukraine, then it has made a mistake. Ukraine will only become stronger and Russia’s aggression will fail,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said this week day expressed.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleg Nikolenko added that “the support for Ukraine remains unwavering among the US government, both parties and chambers of Congress, and most importantly the American people”.
“I will safeguard the country’s reputation in the diplomatic sphere and ensure support for Ukraine and the commitment of our international partners to our struggle,” Zelensky said on Sunday.
Tymofiy Mylovanov, dean of the Kyiv School of Economics and adviser to Zelensky’s government, wrote on X (formerly Twitter):
“It is unlikely that anything will change in Ukraine in the short term, but the credibility of the message that the United States will support Ukraine as long as needed will be called into question, if not lost,” he said.
Additional reporting by Guy Chazan in Berlin, Lucy Fisher in London, Javier Espinoza in Brussels and Christopher Miller in Kiev
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