US President Joe Biden on Tuesday announced a US$300 million emergency weapons package to prop up Ukraine while the US Congress blocks further aid, as Poland’s leaders visited the White House to warn of the growing threat from Russia.
Biden said the stopgap shipment of missiles, shells and ammunition for Kyiv was “not nearly enough” and would run out in a couple of weeks, leaving Ukraine outgunned by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invading forces.
He urged Republicans to stop blocking his larger, US$60 billion aid package for Ukraine.
Photo: EPA-EFE
“We must act before it literally is too late,” Biden said as he met Polish President Andrzej Duda and Prime Minister Donald Tusk at the White House.
“Russia won’t stop at Ukraine. Putin will keep going, putting Europe, the United States and the entire free world at risk,” Biden added.
The White House said that the US$300 million package, the first since December last year, was made possible by using money that the Pentagon has saved on other purchases, thus allowing Biden to bypass the US House of Representatives.
However, White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said that Ukraine’s battle was now in one of its most perilous phases since Russia’s February 2022 invasion.
Sullivan said that the US$300 million emergency package was “nowhere near enough to meet Ukraine’s battlefield needs and it will not prevent Ukraine from running out of ammunition in the weeks to come.”
The shipment would include long-range US-made HIMARS rockets, anti-aircraft and anti-tank weapons, artillery shells and small arms ammunition, the Pentagon said.
“The only message we should send to Moscow is that the West is united more than ever before when it comes to Ukraine,” Tusk told reporters.
During the Polish leaders’ visit, the US Department of State said that it was approving nearly US$3.5 billion in missile sales to Poland.
“Russian imperialism today must not be allowed to disrupt this stability and peaceful existence of Europe,” Duda told reporters.
Tusk tried to ease fears that his political feud with Duda would affect Warsaw’s commitment to Ukraine.
“Poland will be a solid and lasting member of the transatlantic community no matter who wins the elections in our country,” Tusk said.
Hungarian authorities temporarily detained seven Ukrainian citizens and seized two armored cars carrying tens of millions of euros in cash across Hungary on suspicion of money laundering, officials said on Friday. The Ukrainians were released on Friday, following their detention on Thursday, but Hungarian officials held onto the cash, prompting Ukraine to accuse Hungary’s Russia-friendly government of illegally seizing the money. “We will not tolerate this state banditism,” Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha said. The seven detained Ukrainians were employees of the Ukrainian state-owned Oschadbank, who were traveling in the two armored cars that were carrying the money between Austria and
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