2023-12-07 09:39:00
The American Congress failed, Wednesday, December 6, to move forward on a large envelope of more than $106 billion insisted on by President Biden, including funds for Ukraine and Israel. The Republican opposition refused to support this text at the heart of very acrimonious negotiations, demanding significant concessions on United States migration policy in exchange for its votes.
This failure is a disappointment for Joe Biden who had urged the approval of these funds a few hours earlier during a very solemn speech. Their blocking would be “the greatest gift” offered to Russian President Vladimir Putin, he warned, affirming that the master of the Kremlin, if he managed to seize Ukraine, “will not stop there “. The Democrat clearly raised the hypothesis of a Russian attack against a NATO member country, which would trigger the entry into war of the United States and therefore of “American soldiers fighting Russian soldiers”. A situation which does not currently exist and which Washington does not want, he insisted.
READ ALSO War in Ukraine: the Russian “rubber band” strategy The United States is currently the country providing the largest military support to kyiv. Congress has committed more than $110 billion since the Russian invasion in February 2022. But Democratic President Joe Biden’s promise to continue financial support to Ukraine is in serious jeopardy, a disaster scenario for Kiev, whose counter-offensive in the summer did not bring the hoped-for territorial gains. Ukrainian officials insist that they need more weapons to prevent Russian strikes from plunging millions of people into darkness this winter, like last year. But conservative elected officials, although many still support Ukraine in public, condition this aid on a clear tightening of migration policy in the face of migrant arrivals at the border with Mexico. The Democratic president also said he was ready on Wednesday to make “significant compromises” on this point in order to obtain support from both chambers on Capitol Hill. Negotiations continue.
Unsuccessful visit and canceled speaking engagement for Zelensky
While waiting for them to come to fruition, Washington announced on Wednesday new military aid to kyiv, for a limited amount of 175 million dollars drawn from the executive’s reserves. The detail includes air defense equipment, missiles and artillery ammunition. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who was scheduled to address members of Congress by videoconference on Tuesday but canceled his speech at the last minute, finally intervened during a teleconference between the leaders of the G7 countries.
Vladimir Putin is counting on the “collapse of Western support for Ukraine,” he said, admitting that the Russian army had “significantly increased pressure” on the front. “Russia only hopes for one thing: that the unity of the free world collapses next year. Russia believes that America and Europe will show weakness and will not maintain their support for Ukraine at the appropriate level,” the Ukrainian president said.
Anticipating the risk of weariness of the great American ally, President Zelensky went to Washington in person in September, meeting Joe Biden but also elected representatives of Congress with whom he had long discussions. His visit, however, did not have the desired effect: mired in a series of internal crises which led to the dismissal of the previous leader of the Lower House, the Congress had not ultimately validated new funds for its offensive. Unlike most of his Democratic peers, Senator Bernie Sanders, a self-proclaimed socialist, voted against the package put to the vote on Wednesday, expressing “deep concerns” about sending funds to the “far-right government.” of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
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