The head of American diplomacy considered it crucial on Monday that Congress approves a new budget package for Ukraine. “Without this, everything that the Ukrainians have achieved and that we have helped them achieve will be compromised,” Antony Blinken said at a press conference alongside NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.
After delivering tens of billions of dollars in weapons to Kiev since the start of the war, Joe Biden’s administration exhausted its appropriations at the end of 2023. The president has asked Congress to approve an additional $61 billion, but negotiations with the Republicans bogged down. Under pressure from the right, the new military aid package is being negotiated alongside measures on immigration, at a time when the number of migrants crossing the border with Mexico is reaching record levels. The agreement currently being negotiated in Congress “is actually a good agreement, because by using a fraction of the American military budget, we managed to significantly damage, destroy, the Russian army,” Blinken repeated .