Zelenskyy to address U.S. senators over war funds
WASHINGTON — Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will address U.S. senators by video Tuesday during a classified briefing as the Biden administration urges Congress to approve the White House’s nearly $106 billion request for funds for the wars in Ukraine, Israel and other security needs.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced Zelenskyy’s appearance after the administration Monday sent an urgent warning about the need to approve the military and economic assistance to Ukraine, saying Kyiv’s war effort to defend itself from Russia’s invasion maygrind to a halt without it.
Schumer said the administration had invited Zelenskyy to address the senators so they “could hear directly from him precisely what’s at stake.” In a letter to House and Senate leaders and released publicly, Office of Management and Budget Director Shalanda Young warned the United States will run out of funding to send weapons and assistance to Ukraine by the end of the year, saying that would “kneecap” Ukraine on the battlefield.
She added that the U.S. already has run out of money that it has used to prop up Ukraine’s economy, and “if Ukraine’s economy collapses, they will not be able to keep fighting, full stop.”
“We are out of money — and nearly out of time,” she wrote.
President Joe Biden has sought a nearly $106 billion aid package for Ukraine, Israel and other needs, but it has faced a difficult reception on Capitol Hill. There is growing GOP skepticism about the magnitude of assistance for Ukraine and even Republicans supportive of the funding are insisting on U.s.-mexico border policy changes to halt the flow of migrants as a condition for the assistance.