President Biden declares 'not abandoning' Ukraine
(Baonghean.vn)- President Joe Biden announced on October 1 that the US will not abandon Ukraine, despite the aid being cut from the spending bill to avoid a government shutdown, and called on Republicans to "stop playing games" on funding.
“I want to assure our allies, the American people, and the Ukrainian people that you can count on our support. We will not walk away,” Biden said in remarks from the White House.
For his part, Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian parliament) deputy Aleksey Goncharenko warned in a Telegram post that his country would almost certainly be defeated in a conflict with Russia if Washington stopped providing military aid. His comments came a day after US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy suggested cutting military aid to Kiev from a spending bill to avoid a shutdown.
“Without American support, we have almost no chance of holding out,” said Mr. Goncharenko, a politician with ties to former President Pyotr Poroshenko’s European Solidarity party. He described McCarthy’s statements as “not just a wake-up call” but also an “alarm bell” for Ukraine.
Goncharenko stressed that Kiev urgently needs assurances that Washington will continue to provide military aid, adding that Ukraine should adopt a more active strategy. Goncharenko’s proposed measures include a permanent Ukrainian delegation to the US Congress and trips by Ukrainian lawmakers to every US state to “convince” Americans of the need to continue supporting Kiev, both through in-person meetings and television appearances.
The lawmaker also admitted that Kiev is “losing the information war” in the US and is therefore losing support. “It is necessary to participate more actively in the information war,” he stressed.
He added that it would be beneficial to speak to the US “in the language of money” and show them “the clear benefits of Ukraine’s victory.” Mr Goncharenko said Kiev should also commit to participating in any military operation launched by Washington. “We are ready to be a stronger ally of the US in any military operation than the UK,” he said.
On the same day, Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleg Nikolenko announced that Kiev was coordinating with Washington to secure new wartime aid, after US lawmakers cut off additional funding to Kiev in a last-minute deal to avoid a government shutdown.
"The Ukrainian government is actively coordinating with our American partners to ensure that the new US budget decision, which will be formulated in the next 45 days, will include new funding to help Ukraine," Mr. Nikolenko said.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov later announced that he had spoken by phone with his US counterpart Lloyd Austin to discuss additional military aid following the decision. "Minister Austin assured me that US support for Ukraine will continue. Ukrainian fighters will continue to have strong support on the battlefield," Umerov wrote on social media.
The funding bill passed by Congress on September 30 will keep US federal agencies operating for another 45 days, but does not provide new aid to Ukraine amid opposition from some hardline Republicans./.
