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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he remains confident of broad U.S. support despite “strange” voices in Congress and a U.S. spending deal that excludes more aid to Kyiv.
U.S. lawmakers withdrew $6 billion in aid to Ukraine to avert a weekend government shutdown, a decision tied to next year’s U.S. election. “Of course, this is a difficult electoral period for the United States. Different voices. Some voices are very strange,” the Ukrainian president said on Thursday at a summit of European leaders in Granada, Spain.
However, Zelensky insisted that he had “100% support” from US President Joe Biden and “bipartisan support from Congress”. Rather than worry about developments in Congress, Zelensky said, “I think we have to work on it.”
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said she was “very confident” that Washington would continue to support Ukraine and praised Biden’s decision to reassure Western allies in a conference call on Monday.
“What the United States is looking at is timing,” von der Leyen told reporters.
The EU’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, said the U.S. funding cuts to Ukraine were “certainly unexpected and not good news.” . . Hopefully this will not become a clear-cut U.S. position. ”
Borrell added: “My hope, the hope of Ukrainians, and I think the hope of everyone who doesn’t want Putin to win this war, is to find ways to get the United States to reconsider this issue and continue to support Ukraine.” “Of course. , Europe cannot replace the United States… American support is irreplaceable for Ukraine.”
Spain’s acting Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez hosted the European Political Community Summit, an informal gathering of nearly 50 leaders. He said Madrid firmly supports EU enlargement to include Ukraine and several other candidate countries that would increase EU membership from 27 to 35.
He said that Spain hopes that Ukraine will formally start EU accession negotiations, but he pointed out that the EU first needs to see that “the steps reasonably stipulated in the treaty have been implemented and that Ukraine has implemented reforms.”
The commission is assessing Ukraine’s progress in seven areas, including anti-corruption reform and minority rights, before EU governments decide whether to open accession talks with Kyiv by the end of the year.
Noting that Spain itself was a beneficiary of the 1986 EU enlargement, Sánchez said the new wave of member states would present “many challenges internally on how to maintain effectiveness.”
EU leaders gathering in Granada on Thursday and Friday will also discuss measures to stem illegal migration, as well as the bloc’s efforts to increase its “strategic autonomy” by reducing economic dependence on China.
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