Days after President Joe Biden declared unyielding support for Ukraine in its fight against Russia, the domestic US political fight is threatening aid funding – and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky encountered less-than-open arms from Republican leaders on Capitol Hill.
Poland also announced this week it would no longer arm its neighbor Ukraine. Read more from CNN’s Rob Picheta about that surprise development, which is born of a looming election in Poland and a standoff with the European Union over Ukraine’s grain supply.- Reports CNN
Back in the US, for the clearest example of how the ground has shifted, watch the video below: a side-by-side comparison of comments from House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who was the Republican minority leader in March 2022 when Zelensky addressed a joint session of Congress virtually. The Ukrainian leader spoke again to all US lawmakers in person in December. The House was united, McCarthy said last March, “to help Ukraine get the weaponry they need to defend themselves.”
Now, after Congress committed so many billions in aid to Ukraine during votes in one calendar year and a US election catapulted him to House speaker, McCarthy has questions about accountability and further funding.
And rather than again give Zelensky the platform of a joint session before Congress, McCarthy gave Zelensky a meeting behind closed doors. Those optics, or lack thereof, are important.
In August, as part of a larger request that included domestic disaster relief funding, the White House asked Congress to approve another $24 billion for Ukraine. This money would go to a variety of things, including replenishing the Pentagon’s arsenal with equipment sent to Ukraine.
The most recent short-term funding bill pushed by Republicans included neither the disaster funding nor the Ukraine funding. But negotiations continue.
The existing Ukraine aid was all approved before Republicans took control of the House in a series of spending bills over the course of 2022. It has been spent in multiple disbursements by the Biden administration across the intervening months.
The US has given more to Ukraine than any other country
The total dollar figure the US has provided to Ukraine dwarfs any other individual country.
However, the US is a much wealthier country than those that surround Ukraine, which suggests other countries may have given a larger comparative amount.
