During a brief meeting overseas with President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday, President Biden made a point of specifically criticizing Republicans over the fight over financial aid to Ukraine.
Biden met with Zelensky in Paris the day after the anniversary of the Normandy landings, telling the Ukrainian leader, “You’re not giving in. You’re not giving in at all. You just continue to fight on in an incredible way. It’s incredible. And we’re not going to abandon you.”
“I apologize for the weeks that went by without knowing what was going to pass in terms of funding, because we had bills that needed to pass and very conservative lawmakers blocked them and we couldn’t get the funding through. But we finally got a bill. Since then, we’ve announced six significant funding packages, including today,” Biden added. “Today, I’m also signing an additional $225 million package to help rebuild our electric grid.”
Biden was referring to the recent foreign aid package that passed Congress in late April after languishing in the House of Representatives for months.
Biden commemorates Normandy landings, urges allies to defeat Ukrainian ‘tyrant’ Putin
Biden shook hands with Zelensky in Paris, France on Friday, June 7. (AP/Evan Vucci)
Fiscal conservatives are increasingly skeptical of continued U.S. financial involvement in Ukraine, while some raise questions about corruption within the Kyiv government.
Putin threatens to arm allies to attack Western nations in retaliation for Ukraine’s support for NATO
Biden told Zelensky that “some conservatives” in Congress were to blame for delaying aid to Ukraine. (AP/Evan Vucci)
More traditional Republicans and national security hawks have warned that a victory in Ukraine is crucial to preventing a broader conflict between NATO and Russia, which Ukrainian President Vladimir Putin has warned is fast forming a second “axis of evil” with Iran and China.
“It’s very important that you are with us,” Zelensky told Biden during the brief meeting.
Caucus Chairman Bob Good (R-Va.) (left) has argued that funding for Ukraine should be balanced with spending cuts to other countries and combined with changes to U.S. border policy. Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.) (right) told Fox News Digital that “any deadly military aid to Ukraine that does not meet these critical requirements makes absolutely no sense.” (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images, Maxym Marusenko/NurPhoto via Getty Images, Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
Click here to get the FOX News app
“Bipartisan support with Congress is crucial, in the unity of the United States of America, that all Americans stand with Ukraine as they did in World War II,” he said. “How America saved lives and saved Europe.”
Fox News’ Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report.
