He is going to engage in real advocacy. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is holding more meetings on Tuesday, December 12, in Congress and at the White House, to prevent Washington from cutting off supplies to his country at war. For the third time in a year, the leader will walk the corridors of the American Congress, the scene of very tense negotiations around additional aid for kyiv. After committing more than 110 billion dollars since the start of the Russian invasion in February 2022, Congress stumbled last week on the new component demanded by American President Joe Biden: some 61 billion dollars.
If the Democrats are in favor of this package, the Republicans are not all against it either, but some are demanding, in return for their vote, major changes in the migration policy of the United States. The discussions are slipping, to the great concern of the Ukrainian president. “If there is anyone who rejoices in the endless negotiations at the Capitol, it is Putin and his clique of deranged people,” he accused Monday, urging Congress to put itself in working order.
Winter is coming…
A message that he will repeat to all American senators this Tuesday at 3 p.m. French time (9 a.m. in the United States), then to the President of the House of Representatives Mike Johnson, and finally to the Democratic President at the beginning of the afternoon . Aware that the sense of urgency has faded in Washington since the start of the war, President Biden asked Congress to combine his request for aid for Ukraine with an envelope of around 14 billion for Israel, an ally of the United States in the war against Hamas. So far, in vain.
The White House has already warned that it will “run out of money” to offer Ukraine by the end of the year if nothing is done by Congress, which has until Friday 15 December to reach an agreement on additional funds. Ukrainian officials insist that they need more weapons to prevent Russian strikes from plunging millions of people into darkness this winter, like last year. A risk that Volodymyr Zelensky sees growing as the war between Israel and Hamas focuses the alert of the Western community.
The risk of a contagion effect cannot indeed be ruled out, at a time when the European Union is also discussing the continuation of its military and financial aid to kyiv. The day after the election of pro-European Donald Tusk in Poland on December 11, the Ukrainian president hastened to bring the spotlight back on his country, calling for European unity in the face of Moscow. Because while in three days there is a crucial European summit which will decide the continuation of Ukraine’s path towards the EU, the country is worried about a lack of consensus among the 27.
And Europe is moving away?
Budapest still refuses the opening of European negotiations with a view to Ukraine’s accession, judging that this country at war with Russia is not ready. “I cannot imagine the devastating consequences if the European Council failed to take a decision, not only for Ukraine but also for the enlargement” of the European Union, the Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs said on Monday in Brussels.
kyiv is also waiting for the EU to continue its support for its war effort, and hopes for the release of aid of 50 billion euros in the form of donations and loans, as well as military aid of 5 billion euros. ‘euros. But here again, Hungary persists in its refusal, despite very strong pressure from its partners. Monday, December 11, the video of a visibly intense exchange between Hungarian leader Viktor Orban and Volodymyr Zelensky, meeting on the sidelines of a meeting in Buenos Aires, was published by the Argentine Senate. The heads of diplomacy of the two countries also indicated that they had a “very long” and “frank” exchange in Brussels on this subject.