WASHINGTON – US President Joe Biden pleaded with Republicans for a fresh infusion of military aid for Ukraine on Dec 6, warning that a victory for Russia over Ukraine would leave Moscow in position to attack Nato allies and could draw the US into a war.
Mr Biden spoke as the United States planned to announce US$175 million (S$230 million) in additional Ukraine aid from its dwindling supply of money for Kyiv.
He signalled a willingness to make significant changes to US migration policy along the border with Mexico to try to draw Republican support.
“If Putin takes Ukraine, he won’t stop there,” Mr Biden said. Putin will attack a Nato ally, he predicted, and then “we’ll have something that we don’t seek and that we don’t have today: American troops fighting Russian troops,” Mr Biden said.
“We can’t let Putin win,” he said.
The White House warned this week that the US is running out of time and money to help Ukraine repel Russia’s invasion.
By mid-November, the US Defence Department had used 97 per cent of US$62.3 billion (S$83 billion) in supplemental funding it had received and the State Department had used all of the US$4.7 billion in military assistance funding it had been allocated, US budget director Shalanda Young said this week.
A US official said the United States has less than US$1 billion in “replenishment authority.” This means that if Congress does not provide new funds to buy replacement equipment, the US, Ukraine and arms makers may be forced to take other steps to backfill stocks.
Border security with Mexico is a major issue weighing on the negotiations about Ukraine and Israel funding.
House and Senate Republicans are backing renewed construction of a border wall, former president Donald Trump’s signature goal, while deeming large numbers of migrants ineligible for asylum and reviving a controversial policy under which asylum seekers are told to remain in Mexico while their immigration case is heard.
Mr Biden said he was willing to make “significant” compromises on the border issue but said Republicans will not get everything they want. He did not provide details.
“This has to be a negotiation,” he said.
Mr Biden, who had discussed Ukraine in a virtual summit with G-7 leaders earlier on Dec 6, said US allies are prepared to continue supporting Ukraine in its 22-month war to repel Russian invaders.
“Extreme Republicans are playing chicken with our national security, holding Ukraine’s funding hostage to an extreme partisan border policy,” said Mr Biden. REUTERS
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