Kiev has not received any new military aid from the United States for weeks due to a domestic political blockade. Europe cannot absorb this. Chancellor Scholz has now met US President Biden – and the two are now making an appeal together.
After his conversation with US President Joe Biden, President Olaf Scholes expressed confidence that US Military Aid to Ukraine could be maintained.
Sholes warned that the Ukrainian armed forces' ability to defend their own country would be threatened if an appropriate decision could not be reached in the US Congress, during an hour-long meeting in the Oval Office of the White House. and 45 minutes.
“That's why we both strongly believe that this should happen now, but hopefully the U.S. Congress will eventually make such a decision.” It would also send the right message to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who hopes for a reduction in Western military aid to Ukraine is futile.
Scholes and Biden in the effort
The United States and Germany are by far Ukraine's most important arms suppliers. Scholz estimates the value of the military equipment provided and pledged by Germany to be over 30 billion euros. The United States puts the level of its military aid at 44 billion US dollars (about 41 billion euros).
Both Scholz and Biden are currently fighting to maintain aid in different ways. Earlier in the year, the president launched an effort to encourage EU partners — particularly economically powerful France, Spain and Italy — to provide more support to the Ukrainian armed forces. Success so far has been modest.
Ukraine votes after election campaign
Biden has been trying for months to get Kiev billions in new aid through Congress. Former President Donald Trump's Republicans have blocked it, but have recently shown interest in at least passing it in the Senate.
But a solution is still far in sight. On Thursday, a new legislative package providing $60 billion (56 billion euros) to Ukraine cleared its first formal hurdle in the Senate. Negotiations are still ongoing, pending a final vote in the Senate. Whether the package will pass there — and above all whether it has a chance in the House of Representatives, the other house of parliament — is still entirely open.
Given the months of domestic political gridlock in the US, even minimal movements are now seen as progress. In his meeting with the president at the White House, Biden said the failure of Congress to release aid amounted to “criminal negligence.”
Biden also praised Germany's contribution to the international aid coalition. Addressing Scholz, he said: “You have done something that no one thought possible: you have doubled German military aid to Ukraine this year.” America must do its part now.
