US says it will be ‘responsible’ for Ukraine’s defeat if aid fails in Congress

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said on Tuesday (local time) that the US would be “responsible for Ukraine’s defeat” if Congress failed to approve.

The Biden administration’s latest multi-billion-dollar funding request for the war-torn country. Yellen told reporters on a trip to Mexico City that the funding — particularly for Ukraine’s general government budget support — was “utterly essential” and a pre-condition to keep International Monetary Fund support flowing to Ukraine.

“I have talked to members of Congress, my colleagues have. I think they understand this, that this is a dire situation and we can hold ourselves responsible for Ukraine’s defeat if we don’t manage to get this funding to Ukraine that’s needed, and I’m including direct budget support here because that’s utterly essential,” Yellen said.

Earlier on Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s chief of staff said the postponement of the US aid created a “big risk” that Ukraine would lose its nearly two-year-old war against Russia’s invasion.

Zelenskyy later cancelled plans to address Congress to appeal directly for US aid as Congress wrangled over Republican demands to tie the aid to a revamp of US immigration and border policies. US lawmakers have been debating a supplemental spending package of over $100 billion that would include aid to Ukraine and Israel, as well as border funding.

Yellen said the US funding for Ukraine was also essential for US allies in Europe that were providing more generous aid to help Ukraine prevail in its struggle against Russian aggression.

“Ukraine is just running out of money,” Yellen said. “They’re spending more than every penny they’re taking in, in tax revenue, on military salaries and defence. They wouldn’t have any schools or hospitals or first responders if not for the money we’re sending to them to support them,” she added.

The US aid to Russia has come with “very strong controls to guard against any misuse of the funds, any corruption,” Yellen said, adding that the government budget support was being channelled through the World Bank, which has strong anti-corruption safeguards to ensure the money goes to intended uses.