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Politics

BIDEN BLAMES CONGRESS AID SNAFU FOR FALL OF UKRAINIAN CITY, WARNS MORE MAY
FOLLOW

By Ryan King

Published Feb. 18, 2024, 2:33 p.m. ET

President Biden is blaming US lawmakers’ “absurd’’ failure to approve emergency
aid to Ukraine for the fall of the Ukrainian city of Avdiivka to Russia over the
weekend— and warns other towns may collapse, too.

“There’s so much on the line,” Biden, 81, told reporters Saturday, the same day
Ukraine was forced to retreat from its eastern city after months of fighting to
retain control — handing the Kremlin one of its most significant recent
victories.

“The idea that now we’re running out of ammunition — to walk away, I find it
absurd. I find it unethical,” Biden said of the struggling Ukrainian war effort
and Congress’s failure to approve additional funding to its US ally.

4
President Biden wants Congress to marshall more military aid to Ukraine. AP

“So I’m going to fight to get them the ammunition they need” Biden vowed,
speaking not far from his Rehoboth Beach, Del., vacation home.

Biden added he is not confident that other Ukrainian cities won’t fall into
Russian hands before Congress approves more aid.

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AMERICAN PEOPLE COULD LOSE BIG

“I’m not. I’m not. No one can be,” he said. “The Ukrainian people have
fought so bravely and heroically.”

He also revealed that he spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and
tried to reassure him that Congress would green-light the aid eventually.

“I spoke with Zelensky this afternoon to let him
know I’m confident we’re going to get that money,” Biden said. “There is so much
at stake.”

Adrienne Watson, a spokeswoman for Biden’s National Security Council, said
bluntly Saturday that Avdiivka’s fall “is the cost of congressional inaction.”

Zelensky met with US officials at the Munich Security Conference in Germany over
the weekend, where Ukraine’s plight was up front and center among the
discussions.

4
Rep. Mike Turner (left) conferred with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenksy
during the Munich Security Conference. via REUTERS

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Turner (R-Ohio), who attended the
summit, recounted that Zelensky did not blame the US specifically for the fall
of Avdiivka but did express grave concerns about aid.

“Zelensky, of course, did not blame his current situation or what occurred
[Saturday] on the delay that’s occurring,” Turner told NBC’s “Meet the Press” in
an interview that aired Sunday.

“He did indicate that he’s certainly worried that the delay could cause a gap in
weapons getting to the Ukraine.”

Biden requested that Congress replenish aid to its war-torn ally back in August,
but lawmakers have been in a stalemate for more than seven months over whether
and how to do it.

Last week, the Senate passed a $95 billion package that allocates around $60
billion for Ukraine, but House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) indicated the lower
chamber won’t take it up.

4
Ukrainian forces had to pull out of Avdiivka on Saturday in a significant
victory for Russia. Getty Images

Johnson has demanded that any aid to Ukraine be paired with tightened US border
security. But he also has previously pronounced a bipartisan supplemental
package with border security from the Senate “dead on arrival” in the House.

Republicans have splintered over whether to re-up aid to Ukraine, a situation
that poses serious political complications for advancing the legislation.

Meanwhile, the Pentagon has said that funding for Ukraine is dried up, while
Kyiv grapples with dwindling artillery on the battlefield against Russian
invaders.

4
Speaker Mike Johnson is grappling with a bitterly divided caucus on the issue of
Ukraine. Getty Images

On Feb. 24, Ukraine is set to mark the two-year anniversary of Russia’s bloody
invasion of it.

Johnson says he has sought a meeting with Biden to clear the air on their
differences over additional funding but claims the White House has declined to
give him one.

“What is there to negotiate?” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre
said last week. “He’s negotiating with himself.”

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) has seemingly kept open the
possibility of deploying a discharge petition, meaning members could try to do
an end-run around Johnson and get the bill to the floor for a vote.

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