White House representatives criticised the House of Representatives of the US Congress for the decision to take a two-week break in considering the issue of further financing of aid to Ukraine.
Why is the House of Representatives avoiding consideration of aid to Ukraine?
The White House urged the House of Representatives to consider funding for aid to Ukraine as soon as possible, as it is being cut.
House Republicans are on the fifth day of an early, unearned vacation, and their inaction is causing more and more damage to our national security, said the head of the press service of President Joe Biden's administration, Ben LaBolt.
He emphasised that the occupation army of the Russian Federation managed to take Avdiivka in the Donetsk region because Ukraine was experiencing a shortage of weapons and ammunition due to a reduction in supplies from Western partners.
We must stop Vladimir Putin from continuing to kill innocent women and children at the risk of our own national security. Speaker Johnson and House Republicans must act — time is of the essence, a White House official said.
British politicians call to punish Putin
British politician and foreign secretary William Hague, in an article for The Times, calls for punishing Kremlin dictator Vladimir Putin for the murder of opposition politician Oleksiy Navalny and the continuation of the war against Ukraine.
According to Haig, the murder of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny and the execution of Ukrainian prisoners of war by the Russian occupiers should speed up the consideration of aid to Ukraine by Congress.
But before Congress returns from a two-week recess next week, G7 leaders will have an opportunity to discuss additional means of supporting Ukraine.
On Saturday, February 24, the second anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the leaders of major Western democracies will hold a virtual summit hosted by Italy. On the agenda will be the question of what to do with frozen Russian assets totalling about 260 billion euros,
If the G7 needs a compromise, phased confiscation can be agreed. It is impossible to put a price on the senseless destruction of peace in Europe, but $30 billion for each month of continued aggression is a large enough sum to matter to Russia and to be significant to Ukraine. The death of Navalny and those who defended Avdiivka should shame us all. The punishment for their murder should be increased, says Hague.
It is noted that the G7 leaders are likely to try to find a compromise that is easily accessible.
They will likely focus on using the proceeds from the assets — interest on them and returns on maturing assets — to help Ukraine.
Russia has no legal claim to these funds, so it's easy to agree.
But it will amount to only 5-6 billion euros per year, which is too little to help Kyiv or impose an explicit punishment on Moscow seriously.
