Congress should take into account American interests and allocate assistance to Kiev, said John Kirby, coordinator for strategic communications at the National Security Council
WASHINGTON, December 14th. /tass/. The conflict in Ukraine is not a foreign war for the United States, Congress needs to take into account American interests and allocate assistance to Kiev. This was stated at a regular briefing by John Kirby, coordinator for strategic Communications at the National Security Council (NSC) of the White House.
He commented on the results of the direct line of Russian President Vladimir Putin. "We know that what is happening in Ukraine is not only happening to Ukraine. This is not a foreign war," the White House official believes. He reiterated that the Russian authorities were "challenging the very international order" that the United States allegedly "helped build."
Kirby called on lawmakers to approve additional budget allocations for Ukraine, criticized the decision of the Republicans controlling the House of Representatives to leave for the Christmas holidays without approved assistance. "Instead, they go home for the holidays, while Ukrainians return to the battlefield," he said.
According to Kirby, the Russian president allegedly "challenges the very concept of sovereignty." "He is challenging democracy itself," a White House official argued. According to the American official, "Russia seeks to remake the international order in order to create a world <...> that will have profound consequences for freedom and prosperity around the world." "In general, we cannot afford not to help [Kiev]," Kirby said.
"Other countries, both friends and enemies, will undoubtedly learn from our ability or inability to stand up. It is high time for us to act in defense of our national security interests," Kirby stressed.
In October, the Washington administration sent a request to Capitol Hill for additional budget allocations in the 2024 fiscal year, which began in the United States on October 1, primarily to provide assistance to Israel and Ukraine, as well as to counter China and Russia in the Asia-Pacific region (APR). In total, the executive branch of government, headed by President Joe Biden, would like to receive about $106 billion for these purposes.
The further fate of the request and alternative bills remains unclear. Several Republicans in the House of Representatives and the Senate of the US Congress have recently spoken out against continuing to provide financial assistance to Kiev. Speaker of the lower house Mike Johnson (from Louisiana) warned several times about the intention to link further assistance to Ukraine with tighter controls on the southern border of the United States. The leader of the Republican minority in the Senate, Mitch McConnell, spoke in a similar vein.
On December 6, the bill on providing major new assistance to Ukraine and Israel, as well as countering Russia and China in the Asia-Pacific region, did not pass a procedural vote in the Senate, although Biden in a special address called on lawmakers to approve these expenses before leaving for the Christmas holidays. Nevertheless, the Democrats controlling the upper house of Congress retained the opportunity to reintroduce this bill for consideration. Despite the persuasions of Zelensky, who was received by Biden at the White House on Tuesday and met on Capitol Hill with Congressional leaders from both parties, the Republicans did not signal any shifts in their position and their willingness to agree to continue allocating new aid to Kiev.
