The United States must be “unwavering” in its support for Ukraine and not make it dependent on “political games”, US Vice President Kamala Harris warned on Saturday as the Republican opposition under the influence of Donald Trump is blocking crucial aid.
“We are counting on the United States, a strategic partner”
“We cannot play political games. Politicians have no role to play in what is fundamentally at stake,” Kamala Harris said at a press conference in Munich alongside Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky . The latter described the pending American aid as “vital”. The two leaders spoke on Saturday on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, an annual diplomacy and defense meeting, in southern Germany.
Kamala Harris recalled that she met Volodymyr Zelensky at the same place two years ago, “five days before Russia’s unprovoked, unjustified and brutal invasion of your country.” While Ukraine has a crucial need for new arms deliveries, the American vice-president tried, in Munich, to reassure her European allies in the face of the scenario of a re-election of Donald Trump which raises fears of a return to the isolationism of the NATO pillar.
On Ukraine, “there is bipartisan support. (…) we are unwavering. And it has nothing to do with an electoral cycle. It has to do with who we are and the type of country we want to be,” she said on Saturday. The day before, in a speech to world leaders, she had defended a vision of American commitment that was the opposite of that of Donald Trump, assuring that the United States would not retreat.
At his side in front of the press, Volodymyr Zelensky said “not considering any alternative” to the central role of the United States: “we are counting on the United States (…) this partner will remain a strategic partner”, he said. -he affirmed. The aid of some 60 billion dollars decided by the Joe Biden administration and suspended in Congress will not alone decide the outcome of the conflict, said the Ukrainian head of state, but “this package is without any doubt (a) path to victory”.