House Speaker Johnson tells Biden Putin must be stopped but Ukraine situation unacceptable
US lawmakers oppose Vladimir Putin, but "that status quo [in Ukraine] cannot be maintained," speaker of the US House of Representatives, Mike Johnson, said this after a meeting of Congress leaders with US President Joe Biden, CNN reports.
The Republican Party has yet to receive "satisfactory answers" from the Biden administration regarding the plan to continue aid to Ukraine.
"We all oppose Vladimir Putin and the barbarism and the aggression that he’s shown there, and he must be stopped. But what’s happening in Ukraine right now, that status quo cannot be maintained. It’s unacceptable," Johnson said.
He noted that the United States cannot spend billions of dollars without a "clear strategy articulated."
"And I told the president in the meeting today again, as I’ve been saying repeatedly, ‘Sir, you have to articulate what the strategy is. What is the endgame?'" said the politician.
On January 4, 2024, the White House announced that the US has run out of money to finance military aid to Ukraine, so Congress must urgently approve a new support package.
Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said that "on January 8, the Senate returns from vacation, on January 9, the House of Representatives comes back, and, without exaggeration, a decision can be made on any following day."
On January 12, the representative of the White House, John Kirby, said that the United States had stopped military aid to Ukraine, so Congress should approve a new package to support Kyiv.
Politico claims that US President Joe Biden has invited Congressional leaders to the White House for a meeting on Wednesday to discuss the ongoing negotiations regarding the bill, which provides, in particular, for supplying aid to Ukraine.
