Republican decision to cut aid if they win elections "shocked" Ukraine

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
20 Oct 2022 16:24

Ukrainian official argues that Ukraine counts on the bipartisan support of the US given its role in the war.

Ukrainian peace talks negotiator Davyd Arakhamia (UNIAN)

Ukraine’s negotiator in the halted peace talks with Russia, Davyd Arakhamia said that the US Republicans' warning regarding cutting aid to Ukraine if they win the midterm election in November has left Kiev in shock.

"We were shocked to hear these comments of Mr. McCarthy, honestly," Arakhamia told the Financial Times on Wednesday.

In light of the impending recession in the US, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy promised on Tuesday, that Ukraine will not receive a "blank check" for aid if the Republicans win the majority of seats in the lower house of Congress in the upcoming midterm elections.

Arakhamia noted that a short while ago he had visited the US and met with McCarthy, however, at the time “We were assured that bipartisan support of Ukraine in its war with Russia will remain a top priority even if they win in the elections.”

On a similar note, Ukraine's Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleg Nikolenko explained that Kiev counted on “continued bipartisan support” from the US for its part in the ongoing war in Ukraine.

Trump never wanted to support Ukraine with billions of dollars

Former President Donald Trump slammed Washington's generous hand-over of cash and weapons to Ukraine: The US, according to Trump, has too many problems of its own to hand money and weapons to Ukraine for its conflict with Russia, insisting that if anything it's Europe that should be providing more help to Kiev given that they're more affected by the situation.

Trump, speaking at the Student Action Summit in Tampa, Florida, earlier in July, recalled how, when he was president, he pushed the EU's NATO members to increase their defense spending to 2% of their GDP. The US was “taken advantage of by Europe" back then, and now the same thing is happening over Ukraine, he asserted.

“We’ve so far given more than $60 billion to Ukraine. Well, the European countries, who are obviously far more affected than us, have given a tiny fraction of that number,” he noted.

He further said that if he were still in office, he “could’ve gone over there [to Europe] and said: ‘Listen, you’re going to put up the same money or more money than us.’ And they would’ve done it gladly,” Trump claimed.