The Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, met with Ukraine’s leader, Volodymyr Zelensky, during a surprise visit to Kiev on Sunday (1st). He is the highest American official to travel to Ukraine since the start of the war with Russia.
“Thanks to the US for helping to protect our state’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Zelensky wrote on Twitter, in a message along with a video showing him, surrounded by armed guards, welcoming Pelosi and the US Congressional delegation at the entrance. of the Presidency in Kiev.
“The US is a leader in solid support for Ukraine in the fight against Russian aggression,” the president said.
In a statement, the US delegation, which will soon travel to southeastern Poland and to Warsaw, said it had carried out the visit “to send an unequivocal and resounding message to the world: the US stands with Ukraine.” “Additional American support is on the way,” the lawmakers said, saying they “will convert the president’s funding demand [Joe] Biden in a legislative package”.
In a dramatic escalation of US efforts against Russia, the Democrat asked the US Congress for US$33 billion last Thursday (28) in aid to Ukraine, in addition to new legal tools that allow toughen sanctions and empty Russian oligarchs’ assets.
The broad funding request includes more than US$20 billion (R$100.7 billion) for weapons, ammunition and other types of military assistance and US$8.5 billion (R$42.8 billion) in direct economic aid to the government in Kiev, as well as US$3 billion (R$15.1 billion) for humanitarian and food aid.
The $20 billion set aside by Biden for the military flank represents five times the 2021 Ukrainian defense budget, including spending on pensions and military salaries.
Russia, which had already warned the US not to “continue to test the patience” of Moscow, in a reference to the visit to Kiev of Secretaries of State, Antony Blinken, and Defense, Lloyd Austin, said on Saturday (30), through from its chancellor, Sergei Lavrov, that if Washington and other NATO allies are really interested in resolving the conflict, they should stop sending weapons to Ukraine.
During their visit to Ukraine, Blinken and Austin announced the progressive return of the US diplomatic presence in the country and additional direct and indirect assistance of more than US$ 700 million.
Zelensky was grateful for the “very important signals” given by the US and Biden, including a program similar to the one created during World War II to provide allied countries with military equipment without, in theory, directly intervening in the conflict.
“These are recent and important steps in military and financial support to Ukraine […]and we are grateful for that,” the Ukrainian leader said in a statement by the Ukrainian Presidency.
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