Kiev insists there is no 'plan B' without the US
(Baonghean.vn) - Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba said this was the message he conveyed to his US counterpart Antony Blinken.
Ukraine has no "plan B" for conflict with Russia if the US Congress refuses to approve more military aid to Kiev, Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba said.
The diplomat told Ukraine's Rada TV on April 18 that this was the message he had emphasized to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken earlier in the day when the two met on the sidelines of the G7 Foreign Ministers' Summit on the Italian island of Capri.
The administration of US President Joe Biden has been unable to push the US Congress to approve an additional $60 billion in aid to Kiev since last fall, amid a bitter deadlock between Democrats and Republicans over immigration and border security.
House Speaker Mike Johnson announced earlier this week that he would bring a separate Ukraine aid bill to a vote on April 20, while Biden promised to sign the bill if it passed the House.
Mr Kuleba declined to speculate on the outcome of the vote, saying, “a lot of battles have been fought around this bill and will continue to be fought – let’s wait for the results.”
However, he reiterated that for Ukraine, there is no alternative to US military assistance, which has amounted to more than $111 billion since the start of the conflict with Russia in February 2022.
“I’ve always said we don’t need a Plan B because our Plan A is making the strongest decisions possible for Ukraine, not half-hearted decisions. And I reminded the Secretary of State of that today: ‘Look, I don’t have a Plan B, Plan A has to be – passing a strong bill,’” the Secretary said.
Mr. Kuleba asserted that Mr. Blinken "supported me and said that we should focus entirely on strong decisions for Ukraine, that is, on Plan A."
On April 17, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky blamed a decline in Western military aid for Russia's military advances, admitting that Moscow's forces were "putting pressure on us at the front and are gradually moving."
Russia has repeatedly warned that the transfer of foreign weapons to Kiev will not prevent Moscow from achieving its military goals, but will only prolong the fighting and could increase the risk of direct confrontation between Russia and NATO. According to Russian officials, supplying weapons, sharing intelligence and training the Ukrainian military means that Western countries have become de facto parties to the conflict.
