US President Joe Biden has announced another $225 million in aid for Ukraine as he held talks with President Volodymyr Zelensky in Paris. The US leader also apologised over a months-long congressional hold-up in military assistance that let Russia make gains on the battlefield.
Biden met with Zelensky on Friday after appealling for bipartisan US support to go forward “like it was during World War II.”
The leaders on Thursday attended ceremonies marking the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings in Normandy, where Biden had drawn common cause between the Allied forces that helped free Europe from Nazi Germany and today's effort to support Ukraine against Russia's invasion.
Referring to the six-month holdup by conservative Republicans in Congress to a $61 billion military aid package for Ukraine, Biden said: “I apologise for those weeks of not knowing what’s going to happen in terms of funding".
Still, the Democratic president insisted that the American people were standing by Ukraine for the long haul.
“We’re still in. Completely. Thoroughly,” he said.
The US president went on to announce an additional $225 million in aid, emphasising that Washington would "not walk away" from the ongoing crisis in the country.
In Paris, I met with @POTUS Joe Biden. We discussed Ukraine's defense capabilities, the battlefield situation, and our preparations to sign a bilateral security agreement.
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) June 7, 2024
To ensure effective protection against daily Russian terror, Ukraine must be able to strike military… pic.twitter.com/BiKpE9QzXU
Fears of a Trump victory
The apology – and Zelensky’s plea for rock-solid support akin to the allied coalition in WWII – served as a reminder that for all of Biden’s talk of an unflagging US commitment to Ukraine, recalcitrance among congressional Republicans and an isolationist strain in American politics have exposed its fragility.
For his part, Zelensky pressed for all Americans to support his country's defence against Russia's invasion, and he thanked US lawmakers for eventually coming together to approve the weapons package, which has allowed Ukraine to stem Russian advances in recent weeks.
Earlier, Zelensky addressed the French parliament, declaring that Europe was "no longer a continent of peace".
The Ukrainian leader will hold a joint press conference in Paris later this Friday with French President Emmanuel Macron.
(with newswires)
