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Chancellor Scholz and US President Biden in the Oval Office: "Support from the United States is essential for the question of whether Ukraine will be able to defend its own country."

Photo: Andrew Harnik / AP

US President Joe Biden and Chancellor Olaf Scholz have called on the US Congress, sometimes in drastic terms, to release billions of dollars in American military aid for Ukraine. It is outrageous that Congress is still refusing to do this, Biden said on Friday in Washington. "The failure of the United States Congress not to support Ukraine amounts to criminal negligence," criticized the US President.

After his conversation with Biden, Scholz also warned the US Congress: "Support from the United States is essential for the question of whether Ukraine will be able to defend its own country."

Scholz, who met with US senators the evening before, called for a quick decision. It is a “sign of confidence” that the US Senate has now cleared the way for another vote, he said. "I don't want to speculate how long it will take and whether it will take a few more attempts," added the SPD politician. "But it would be good if that happened very soon." It's about a joint transatlantic message to the Russian president. It must be made clear to him that he cannot expect support for Ukraine to decrease. "Germany and the United States must play an important role in maintaining peace in the world," said the SPD politician.

He described the interview given by Russian President Vladimir Putin as “ridiculous.” The Chancellor said of Putin that he had repeatedly told lies about the history of this war.

Biden thanked the Chancellor for Germany's leadership on the issue. Both politicians spoke to each other for more than 90 minutes during the Chancellor's working visit.

Partial success for Biden

Looking at his conversation with the senators, Scholz said he had the impression that those who dealt with foreign and security policy in the US Congress knew the importance of the issue. The U.S. congressmen included Democrats Chris Coons, Chris Murphy, Jack Reed and Jeanne Shaheen and Republicans Jim Risch, Lindsay Graham, Dan Sullivan and Roger Wicker. The Chancellor wants to meet other US politicians at the Munich Security Conference next week.

US President Biden had previously recorded a partial success in Congress: The US Senate approved a bill for consideration that provides military aid for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan in the amount of 88.5 billion euros (95.34 billion dollars). . The approval of the House of Representatives, the second chamber of the US Congress, which is also necessary, is very uncertain.

The USA and Germany are by far Ukraine's most important arms suppliers. Scholz estimates the value of the military equipment delivered and promised by Germany at more than 30 billion euros. The USA states the extent of its military aid at 44 billion US dollars (around 41 billion euros).

Both Scholz and Biden are currently struggling in different ways to maintain aid. At the beginning of the year, the Chancellor launched an initiative to encourage EU partners - especially economically strong ones such as France, Spain and Italy - to provide more support for the Ukrainian armed forces. The success so far has been moderate.

Biden, in turn, has been trying for months to get billions in new aid for Kiev through Congress. Former President Donald Trump's Republicans are blocking this, but have recently signaled some willingness to move, at least in the Senate.

hen/Reuters/dpa