Zelenskyy meets with Biden and lawmakers in push for more Ukraine aid

세 번째 방미 젤렌스키 “자유를 위한 싸움“ 지원 호소 Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with U.S. President Joe Biden to make an in-person plea for military and economic aid. While President Biden said that the U.S. will not abandon Ukraine in its war against Russia, there is stern Republican opposition to extending war funding. Lee Eun-jin reports. On Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made his third visit to Washington since the start of the war in Ukraine 22 months ago. He met with members of Congress as well as President Joe Biden. The visit was Zelenskyy’s in-person plea to save a 61 billion dollar U.S. defense package for war-torn Ukraine. That package has been logjammed by Republicans on Capitol Hill. The Republican members of Congress want the Biden administration to make concessions on U.S. border security and immigration policy in exchange for the aid package. Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson said the White House is asking for billions of dollars without a clear strategy for winning the war in Ukraine, and that more needs to be done to secure the U.S. homeland borders. “What the Biden Administration seems to be asking for is billions of additional dollars with no appropriate oversight, no clear strategy to win, and none of the answers that I believe the American people are owed. I have also made very clear from day one, that our first condition on any national security spending package is about our own national security first.“ Prior to his meeting on Capitol Hill, President Zelenskyy addressed a military audience at the National Defense University on Monday, where he expressed hope that he could still count on the U.S. for assistance. “Putin must lose, must lose so that everyone else sees Russia’s war on Ukraine as his personal letter at the so-called University of Aggression gets the message loud and clear: Putin must lose.“ “His weapon against you right now is propaganda and disinformation, but if he sees a chance, he will go further.“ Standing alongside the Ukrainian leader at a White House press conference, President Biden vowed on Tuesday that neither he nor the American people would walk away from Ukraine, saying that allowing a Ukrainian defeat would mean Russian President Vladimir Putin “and would-be aggressors everywhere will be emboldened.“ But there was a subtle but noteworthy shift in public messaging from the President. From his previous statement of a pledge for U.S. support for Ukraine “as long as it takes“ his message shifted to “as long as we can“. Speaking to reporters during a meeting with Zelenskyy in the Oval Office, President Biden announced he would be releasing 200 million dollars in funding that’s already been approved by Congress to help Ukraine with its defensive needs. While that’s a small fraction of the 60 billion dollars Biden hoped for Ukraine in his supplementary funding request, the 200 million dollars can be released shortly. Lee Eunjin, Arirang News. #military_aid #Ukraine #Volodymyr_Zelenskyy #Ukrainian_President #UnitedStates #Biden #우크라이나 #미국 #젤렌스키 Arirang_News #아리랑뉴스 📣 Facebook : 📣 Twitter : 📣 Homepage : 2023-12-13, 12:00 (KST)