106 billion dollars: this was the amount of a large package of military aid, supposed to be allocated to Ukraine and Israel, but which the American Congress rejected on Wednesday December 6. The Republican opposition refused to support this text, at the heart of difficult negotiations.
This failure is a disappointment for Joe Biden who had urged the approval of these funds a few hours earlier during a very solemn speech. Blocking them would be “the greatest gift” offered to Russian President Vladimir Putin, he warned, affirming that the master of the Kremlin, if he managed to seize Ukraine, “would not stop there” .
The United States is currently the country providing the largest military support to kyiv. Congress has committed more than $110 billion since the Russian invasion in February 2022. But Democratic President Joe Biden’s promise to continue financial support to Ukraine is in serious jeopardy, a disaster scenario for Kiev, whose counter -offensive in the summer did not bring the hoped-for territorial gains. Ukrainian officials insist that they need more weapons to prevent Russian strikes from plunging millions of people into darkness this winter, like last year.
Republican opposition
But conservative elected officials, although many still support Ukraine in public, condition this aid on a clear tightening of migration policy in the face of migrant arrivals at the border with Mexico. The Democratic president also said he was ready on Wednesday to make “significant compromises” on this point, in order to obtain support from both chambers on Capitol Hill.
While waiting for them to succeed, Washington announced on Wednesday new military aid to kyiv, for a limited amount of 175 million dollars drawn from the executive’s reserves. The detail includes air defense equipment, missiles and artillery ammunition.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who was scheduled to address members of Congress by videoconference on Tuesday but canceled his speech at the last minute, finally intervened during a teleconference between the leaders of the G7 countries. “Russia only hopes for one thing: that the unity of the free world will collapse next year. Russia believes that America and Europe will show weakness and will not maintain their support for Ukraine at the appropriate level,” the Ukrainian president said.
Setback for Joe Biden
Anticipating the risk of weariness of the great American ally, President Zelensky went to Washington in person in September, meeting Joe Biden but also elected representatives of Congress with whom he had long discussions. His visit, however, did not have the desired effect: mired in a series of internal crises which led to the dismissal of the previous leader of the lower house, the Congress had not ultimately validated new funds for its offensive.
On the other hand, the envelope also contained funds intended for Israel, currently at war in the Gaza Strip against the terrorist movement Hamas following the October 7 attacks on Israeli territory. If most elected Democrats spoke in favor of this financial support, socialist senator Bernie Sanders for his part voted against the envelope submitted to the vote on Wednesday, expressing “deep concerns” about sending funds to the “far-right government” of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.