US President Joe Biden called it "utter madness" to refuse to support the allocation of funds to Kyiv. This is how he commented on the situation in Congress, where the Democratic and Republican parties fail to agree on the financing of Ukraine.

"Failing to support Ukraine is utter madness," he was quoted as saying by The New York Times. "It's against U.S. interests."

At the same time, Biden again promised to achieve the allocation of funds to Kyiv.

On the same day, Secretary of State Antony Blinken made a similar statement at an event organized by the Washington-based NGO Coalition for Global Leadership.

"We know that allowing Putin to continue to act with impunity will open a Pandora's box," he said, explaining the need to continue providing assistance to Ukraine.

In turn, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, in a statement to reporters during a trip to Mexico, noted that the United States would be responsible in the event of Kyiv's defeat.

"The situation is critical, and we can hold ourselves responsible for Ukraine's defeat if we fail to provide Ukraine with the necessary funding. And I include direct budget support here, because it's extremely important," she said.

  • Janet Yellen
  • Gettyimages.ru
  • © Kevin Dietsch

The U.S. administration is echoed by many representatives of the Democratic Party in Congress. For example, one of the key participants in the negotiations with the Republicans, Senator Chris Murphy, expressed concern that Washington could "about to abandon Ukraine." According to him, the refusal to support Kiev will have dire consequences for the West.

"Ukraine will lose this war, Kyiv will become a Russian city, Putin will get the green light to go to NATO and Europe if we don't act. Until the Republicans show prudence, the financing of Ukraine and the security of the whole world are in jeopardy," he wrote on his page on the social network X.

'Bring Trump's case to an end'

These statements were made against the backdrop of a closed briefing in the Senate on the allocation of funds for Ukraine. It was expected that Volodymyr Zelensky would also take part in it via video link, but he decided to refuse at the last moment.

A number of US media outlets noted that the briefing was held in a tense atmosphere. For example, Fox News journalist Chad Pergram reported that the participants of the meeting even switched to shouting. And Republican Senator Mitt Romney said that his party members left the briefing because they did not receive a response from the Democrats to their proposals.

Similar information is provided by The New York Times in its article. The briefing took place ahead of a Senate vote on emergency funding in the amount of $110.5 billion, which the White House requested includes aid to Kyiv and Tel Aviv, as well as funds to ensure security on the southern border of the United States.

  • U.S. Congress
  • Gettyimages.ru
  • © Celal Gunes / Anadolu

Observers of The New York Times consider the way the briefing went to be indicative. According to journalists, the altercation at the meeting leaves little chance that the bill will be adopted.

It is worth noting that the Republican Party has no objections to providing assistance to Ukraine, but wants to link this issue with the adoption of its own proposals for the arrangement of the southern border and stopping the flow of migrants.

After the briefing in the Senate, the leaders of the Republican Party again stressed that the continuation of assistance to Kiev is possible only if the migration issue is resolved. Such statements were made by Speaker of the House of Representatives Mike Johnson and Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.

According to analysts, the issue of migration and the arrangement of the southern border remains one of the key issues on the domestic political agenda of the United States.

"Republicans are demanding very serious legislation. It is based on the same idea of strengthening the border that Donald Trump pursued as president. These include the construction of the wall and agreements with transit States aimed at preventing them from encouraging the influx of migrants. The Biden administration curtailed Trump's program in 2021. The Republicans, on the other hand, now want to bring Trump's case to an end," Vladimir Vasilyev, chief researcher at the Institute of the United States and Canada of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Doctor of Economics, said in a comment to RT.

However, the Democrats cannot agree to the Republican proposals, the expert says, because this would mean the collapse of their own migration policy.

"The Democratic Party believes that migrants should be accepted, but in a more orderly way. Approving the Republican plans would mean a complete rejection of the Democrats' immigration policy. This is unacceptable to them. Moreover, in the year of the presidential election, it will look like the final failure of the White House's course," the expert explained.

Workarounds

Vladimir Vasilyev believes that so far there are no signs that the two parties will come to an agreement before the end of the year.

"As of today, no deal is in sight. Everyone stays on their own. Democrats continue to make demagogic claims that politicians who obstruct support for Ukraine are thereby advocating the defeat of the United States in the fight against Russia. The democratic administration cannot come up with any rational arguments. The Republicans, on the other hand, continue to link the issue of Ukraine with the strengthening of the border," the expert said.

  • Situation at the U.S. Southern Border
  • Gettyimages.ru
  • © John Moore

The analyst added that it is especially important for the Democrats to receive funds for Ukraine in the pre-election year.

"The Democratic Party has nothing to report to inside the country, and in foreign policy they have only Ukraine. With it, the administration wants to extend the mandate to stay in the White House for a second term. Billions of dollars are needed for this. Hence all the talk that the fate of the United States and democracy is being decided in Ukraine. Republicans, of course, understand all this and do not want to help Biden bend this line," Vasilyev said.

The expert also stressed that, despite the delay in the allocation of aid to Ukraine, Washington still has the resources to keep the Kyiv regime afloat. Recall that on December 4, the State Department said that the White House is now using the remnants of financial assistance to Kiev previously approved by Congress - by now about 97% of these resources have been exhausted.

"The current U.S. funds will be enough for Ukraine to survive this winter. In other words, Ukraine is not left without money at all. However, such funding leaves Kiev no room for a large-scale escalation of the conflict or another counteroffensive. However, after the winter, Ukraine may be left without funds. The Democrats are trying to prevent that," the analyst said.

In turn, Konstantin Blokhin, a researcher at the Center for Security Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, in an interview with RT, noted that Washington, in any scenario, will not leave its Ukrainian wards without funds.

"The world functions according to the financial system built by the United States, so it can be very easy for Washington to find workarounds to sponsor Kyiv. For example, they can force Europe to finance Ukraine or try to support Kiev through their financial organizations and non-governmental foundations. Let's not forget about other schemes. For example, in the 1980s, the U.S. administration circumvented the embargo and used the proceeds to sponsor Nicaraguan Contra rebels in defiance of a congressional ban. So they will be able to find loopholes," the political scientist summed up.