The Biden White House has made clear that it will prioritize attempting convince the incoming Trump administration to keep up massive defense assistance to Ukraine, amid fears the US could essentially abandon the Zelensky government while pursuing peace with Moscow.
“President Biden will have the opportunity over the next 70 days to make the case to the Congress and to the incoming administration that the United States should not walk away from Ukraine, that walking away from Ukraine means more instability in Europe,” Biden’s National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told CBS News on Sunday.
President-elect Trump has not stated that he plans to cut all aid, but he did recently mock President Zelensky as the “world’s greatest salesman” for securing hundreds of millions of dollars in new taxpayer funds recently. Incoming VP J.D. Vance has been even more critical of the Ukrainian government. He has on several occasions expressed deep frustration at even fellow Republicans’ willingness to sign over billions to Ukraine with ease.
But Sullivan has vowed that in the interim, the White House plans to get Ukraine the aid passed by Congress “on time and in full.”
“Our approach remains the same as it’s been for the last two and a half years, which is to put Ukraine in the strongest possible position on the battlefield so that it is ultimately in the strongest possible position at the negotiating table,” he continued in the “Face the Nation” interview.
Interestingly he at one point in the Sunday discussion referenced tensions in southeast Asia involving China, and allies like Japan and Taiwan, claiming that weakened US support to Kiev could signal China that the US is in retreat.
“President Biden will make the case that we do need ongoing resources for Ukraine beyond the end of his term, because the threat to Ukraine will remain no matter what exactly happens on the battlefield or at the negotiating table,” Sullivan said.
He again emphasized in his concluding remarks on the program that President Biden “will have sent the full amount of resources and aid to Ukraine the Congress has authorized” by January 20.
But Zelensky’s biggest ‘ask’ which is still on the table is permission from the US to use long-range missiles to target deep into Russian territory. He had hoped to get this greenlight from the Biden administration, but the US has clearly rejected it for now.
JD Vance has had enough:
“This is a border fig leaf so that we can send another $61 billion to Ukraine. It’s a catastrophic abdication of leadership for Republicans.” pic.twitter.com/pd8r6xcTAL
— Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) January 18, 2024
Zelensky is unlikely to get a yes from the future Trump administration as well, given that Trump has prioritized rapidly ending the war and achieving lasting ceasefire. Moscow views long-range strikes with US-supplied weapons as a ‘red line’ which would likely make ceasefire negotiations impossible. The Trump team knows this and is thus unlikely to consider it as a real option.
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