The President of Ukraine called Washington's assistance vital for Kiev and stressed that there is no other alternative.
MUNICH, February 17th. /tass/. Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky said that Washington will cease to be a strategic partner of Kiev if it does not allocate an aid package.
He called U.S. assistance vital for Ukraine, stressing that there is no alternative. "We are very much counting on the positive decision of the Congress, this package is vital for us. We are not considering an alternative today, because we count on the United States as our strategic partner, that they will remain a strategic partner. If we are talking about an alternative, it means that this is not our strategic partner. That's why I'm not considering such an alternative," Zelensky said at a press conference after meeting with U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference.
The Ukrainian president hopes that the United States will maintain an allied position towards Kiev. "Do I think this is a treacherous position? No, because I don't think our strategic partner can afford not to support Ukraine. That is, I do not see an opportunity for a strategic partner to take such a position. We see challenges, electoral, internal, political, I don't want to comment on them, these are the internal processes of the United States and the American people. But I hope that the allied position will remain," he continued.
Zelensky also said that the United States and Ukraine had held two rounds of talks on security guarantees for Kiev. "As for security guarantees, our teams are working, we have held two rounds of negotiations. I am sure that we will have a very, very powerful document with our partners, but we agreed that we should focus on what is needed right now. Therefore, we are focusing on working with the US Congress, and after that we will move on to security guarantees," he added.
At a press conference held before the meeting with Harris, Zelensky did not publicly answer the question of what he would say to congressmen blocking the allocation of aid to Kiev in the United States.
Controversy on Capitol Hill
The American administration sent a request to Capitol Hill almost four months ago 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. In total, the executive branch of the US government, headed by Democratic President Joe Biden, would like to receive about $106 billion for these purposes.
The further fate of the request and alternative bills remains unclear. A number of Republicans in the House of Representatives and the Senate of Congress have spoken out in recent months against continuing to provide financial assistance to Kiev. Speaker of the House of Representatives Mike Johnson (Republican from Louisiana) has consistently warned of the intention to link further assistance to Ukraine with tighter controls on the southern border of the United States.
On February 13, the Senate, with the support of a number of Republicans, adopted an alternative version of the bill providing for the allocation of $95 billion to help Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. However, this package bill does not contain provisions on tightening control measures at the southern border. The day before, Johnson pointed out that the document prepared in the Senate does not address the border crisis, the "most serious problem" facing the United States. In addition, Johnson, who holds the third most important post in the US government hierarchy, recently called the version of the bill developed by senators "obviously impassable" in the House of Representatives. On Thursday, the House of Representatives went on a two-week break until the end of February, without voting on the bill.
