Politico: the White House fears a slowdown in aid to Kyiv from Congress

Officials in the administration of US President Joe Biden have privately acknowledged for months that they fear a slowdown in aid to Kyiv amid declining media attention to the Ukraine crisis. writes Politico.

To prevent this, the White House turned to “unexpected” allies – moderate Republicans in the House of Representatives, where their party now has a majority, as well as the leader of the Republican minority in the Senate, Mitch McConnell.

These politicians have spoken out in support of continued aid, and officials from the presidential administration and the Pentagon have been secretly approaching them in recent weeks. At the same time, parliamentarians who had previously sharply criticized the provision of financial and military assistance to Kyiv entered the lower house of Congress, the newspaper notes.

The White House believes that Biden will have several “difficult months” in connection with the difficulties experienced by Washington’s European allies due to the energy crisis and the emerging threat of a recession, despite the fact that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s position on a peace settlement began to “test the patience” of the leaders EU, writes the edition.

Russia’s special operation in Ukraine began on February 24. Russian President Vladimir Putin called the protection of the inhabitants of Donbass, as well as the demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine, its goals. In response, Western countries imposed large-scale sanctions against Russia and began to provide military assistance to Ukraine. Western military aid to Ukraine totaled $40 billion, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said November 30.

At the same time, the Russian authorities have repeatedly criticized the supply of Western weapons to Kyiv. In particular, the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, has repeatedly pointed out that pumping Ukraine with weapons brings NATO closer to the dangerous line of a direct military clash with Russia.

The Kremlin has repeatedly spoken about Ukraine’s unwillingness to negotiate with Russia. At the end of November, the press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov declaredthat negotiations between the two countries are now impossible, since they are denied by the Ukrainian side. Then Peskov added that in order to resume dialogue, Ukraine must not only repeal the law refusing to negotiate with Moscow, but also show political will. According to him, Kyiv must show readiness to discuss Russia’s demands, “which are well known.”