Home Speaker Mike Johnson mentioned he has no plans to grant the request following President-elect Donald Trump’s current election victory.
Home Speaker Mike Johnson, on Dec. 4, dismissed the potential for extra Ukraine help being tied to an anticipated congressional stopgap spending invoice, amid stories that the White Home is looking for to greenlight the funding by the tip of the 12 months.
It comes after stories emerged final month that President Joe Biden has urged Congress to cross the additional funding and replenish weapons to Kyiv to strengthen its place within the Russia–Ukraine battle earlier than he leaves workplace.
“I’m not planning to try this,” Johnson, a Republican, mentioned when requested about extra Ukraine-related help being tied to a unbroken decision to fund the federal government.
The Home Speaker went on to state that President-elect Donald Trump’s current election victory has modified the dynamic of the Russia-Ukraine struggle.
“There are developments by the hour in Ukraine,” Johnson mentioned. “I feel as we predicted, and as I mentioned to all of you weeks earlier than the election, if Donald Trump is elected, it should change the dynamic of the Russian struggle on Ukraine, and we’re seeing that occur.”
Any extra help for Kyiv would must be determined by the brand new U.S. chief when he assumes workplace in January, he mentioned.
“So it isn’t the place of Joe Biden to make that call,” he continued. “Now, we now have a newly elected president and we’re going to attend and take the brand new commander-in-chief’s course on all of that so I don’t anticipate any Ukraine funding to come back up now.”
The White Home has not publicly commented on the reported funding request.
Biden would “make the case to the Congress and to the incoming administration that the USA shouldn’t stroll away from Ukraine, that strolling away from Ukraine means extra instability in Europe,” Sullivan mentioned on the time.
The nationwide safety adviser added that Biden would additionally push for “ongoing assets” for Ukraine past the tip of his time period, as a result of the “risk to Ukraine will stay it doesn’t matter what precisely occurs on the battlefield or on the negotiating desk, and the USA shouldn’t stroll away from its dedication” to the embattled nation.
The Epoch Occasions has contacted the White Home for remark.
U.S. President Joe Biden shakes palms with President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky whereas welcoming him to the Oval Workplace on the White Home in Washington on Sept. 21, 2023. Drew Angerer/Getty Photographs
The bundle contains ammunition for Excessive Mobility Artillery Rocket Methods (HIMARS), Stinger missiles, artillery shells, drones, landmines, and different navy tools, based on a Dec. 2 assertion.
Biden is “looking for to place Ukraine within the strongest doable place, and we’ll proceed to execute upon this technique in help of Ukraine and its battle for freedom,” Sullivan mentioned.
Aldgra Fredly contributed to this report.
