President Joe Biden publicly apologized to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday and appeared to blame Republicans for Ukraine’s aid struggles.
Biden and Zelenskyy met in Paris, France, on Friday ahead of Biden’s expected travel to Italy next week for the Group of Seven (G7) summit with the U.S.’ strongest allies. During their meeting, Biden told Zelenskyy he was sorry it took so long to sign off on the new $60 billion aid package for Ukraine’s security, noting that there were “very conservative members” in Congress who had stonewalled its delivery.
“We’re not gonna walk away from you. I apologize for the weeks of not knowing what was going to pass, in terms of funding,” Biden told Zelenskyy in front of reporters on Friday. “And because we had trouble getting the bill that we had to pass — that had the money in it — some of our very conservative members who were holding it up. But we got it done, finally.”
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The $60 billion aid package was passed by Congress and signed by Biden in April after months of deliberations and clashes between lawmakers. Biden has been publicly supportive of Ukraine’s wartime efforts against Russia and has approved a total of $175 billion in aid since the conflict began in 2022.
Behind closed doors, however, the Biden administration has reportedly expressed concern about Russia’s odds at victory as it continues to make advances along the Eastern front of the war. Russia’s military has largely recovered from losses sustained in the first two years of the war and does not suffer from the same manpower or weapons shortages that Ukraine does.
Defense experts and former U.S. officials previously told the Daily Caller News Foundation that Ukraine had little chance of victory against Russia, even with Western aid.
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