U.S. President Joe Biden has announced a fresh $225 million aid package for Ukraine and apologized for congressional delays in approving the previous $61 billion package.
The meeting was their first face-to-face encounter since Zelenskyy visited Washington in December when the two pressed Republicans to overcome opposition in their party to providing more support for Ukraine.
Biden apologized to Zelenskyy for the delays before the last U.S. aid package passed in Congress in April. He confirmed he was signing an additional tranche of $225 million to help Ukraine reconstruct its electric grid.
“You haven’t bowed down, you haven’t yielded at all, you continue to fight in a way that is ... just remarkable,” Biden told the Ukrainian leader at the start of their meeting.
He added: “We’re not going to walk away from you.”
Zelenskyy thanked Biden for U.S. military, financial, and humanitarian support.I sat down with President Zelenskyy to announce a new package of security assistance, which includes air defense interceptors, artillery ammunition, and more critical capabilities.
— President Biden (@POTUS) June 7, 2024
Our support for Ukraine is unwavering and I look forward to continuing our discussion at the G7. pic.twitter.com/di4UtXStcd
The new security package includes air defense interceptors, artillery systems and munitions, armored vehicles, anti-tank weapons, and other capabilities, and will also help strengthen Ukraine’s air defenses and reinforce Ukrainian capabilities across the front lines, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement.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
The United States is trying to catch up with Ukraine’s weaponry needs, Deputy National Security Adviser Jon Finer said in Washington on Thursday.
Outside the physical battlefield, the Russia-Ukraine war is “also a competition that takes place in our factories, the factories in Europe, the factories in Ukraine,” he said.
Biden and Zelenskyy will meet again next week at a G7 summit in Italy where Western nations will discuss using frozen Russian assets to provide $50 billion to Ukraine.
