Developments in Ukraine Despite Zelensky’s trip, the US Congress does not intend to rush to approve aid to Kiev

according to the international group Tasnim news agency, Vladimir Zelensky , the president of Ukraine traveled to the United States and is scheduled to meet with Joe Biden at the White House today, Tuesday, and also meet with some senators and Mike Johnson, the speaker of the US House of Representatives. He will try to convince the Washington authorities to provide more military and financial aid to his country. However, before the start of the New Year holidays, the US Congress intends to does not include the request of the White House to provide a new aid package to Ukraine in its program.

Information related to this decision was published this morning on the news portal of the House of Representatives. According to the schedule, on December 12, the House of Representatives will hold hearings on competition with China, as well as on the investigation into the impeachment of Joe Biden, then on December 13 and 14, the representatives of Congress will not again discuss the financing of Ukraine. From December 15, the House of Representatives will go on Christmas and New Year holidays, which will last until January 9.

While Vladimir Zelensky, during his speech this morning At the National Defense University (NDU) in the US capital, he criticized the performance of the US Congress and asked the Washington authorities to provide more military aid to this country. He said: “We know what to do and you can count on Ukraine’s actions, and we hope that we can count on your help.”

He pointed to “Patriot air defense systems, electronic warfare systems, drones and fighters – all of these are necessary and contribute to the advancement of our forces on the battlefield,” he said. .”

Earlier, White House spokeswoman Karin Jean-Pierre said Joe Biden had invited Zelensky to a meeting at the White House to discuss Kiev’s needs.

Of course, according to some experts, keeping Zelensky as a legal and responsible partner before the US presidential election is not less important for Joe Biden’s team. While his opponents, on the contrary, want to prove: the billions of dollars of American taxpayers’ money spent on Kiev were not effectively spent, and the White House is to blame for this. But keeping Zelensky’s trust until the end of the American election period is important for Biden in terms of domestic politics. Follow the war in Ukraine:

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in America They believe that Kiev does not understand the instability of Washington’s continued support

The New York Times newspaper reported this morning, quoting its sources in the US government, that the Ukrainian authorities They do not understand the instability of further support from the United States. “Many of Ukraine’s leaders do not understand how unsustainable continued US aid is,” the publication wrote. They are asking for millions of cannonballs, while such a volume does not exist at all in the stockpiles of Western countries.” America is declining, they said: Kyiv is biased in assessing the capabilities of its allied countries in providing aid to Ukraine.

This newspaper noted that many American citizens, mainly supporters of the Republican Party, insisted on stopping financial aid to Ukraine and emphasized that we should look for another way. Thus, this article proposes to focus on the production of weapons in Ukraine itself instead of sending weapons. More help would be a shame

Republican Senator JD Vance told Fox News this morning that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky It’s back to the United States to beg again for more money from American taxpayers to finance a military conflict with Russia. In his opinion, this act is the “most shameless comedy” he has ever seen. He came to Washington and asked Congress and American taxpayers to help him with another 61 billion dollars. I think this is a ridiculous show. Zelensky has a kind of delusion that he came to the United States for this purpose, when Republicans are trying to remind the White House of the need to solve the country’s most important problems, such as immigrants and the southern border.”

De Vance at the same time sarcastically admired the persistence and insistence of the Ukrainian leader who unashamedly travels to the United States again and again to ask for money, adding: “He comes to the United States with self-confidence. , giving speeches and demanding more money from us, while at the same time in Ukraine, he is putting his dissenting priests and citizens behind bars. I think this is shameless comedy. I’ve been in the Senate for a year and this is the biggest ridiculous show I’ve ever seen.” In Ukraine

Marjory Taylor Green, a member of the House of Representatives of the United States of America, criticized this issue last night on her page on the X social network (formerly Twitter) that Washington officials are not interested in establishing peace in Ukraine.

Green wrote, noting that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had come to the United States to plead with Kiev for more military aid. allocated to Ukraine is drying up, so why isn’t anyone in Washington talking about a peace treaty with Russia?”

Ms Green suggested the current trip The president of Ukraine has an opportunity to convince him of diplomacy and urge him to start peaceful negotiations with Russia. However, there is still no call for peace. He emphasized that Washington is actually benefiting from the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, which means that the United States is not interested in establishing a truce between these two countries, and “this is terrible!”

Russian diplomat: all the weapons that Zelensky requests from America will be destroyed by Russia

Dmitry Polyansky, the first deputy permanent representative of Russia to the United Nations last Monday night at the meeting of the Security Council pointed to the fact that the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, can still ask for weapons from Western countries, but again, these weapons will be sent to Kiev will not help.

Polyansky said: “No matter how much Zelensky begs for weapons in the United States during his over-the-top circus act, they are all either by the Russian military in They will be destroyed on the battlefield or simply left at the front.

According to this Russian diplomat, Zelensky’s next attempt to beg Washington for new weapons is pointless. According to Polyansky, this conclusion has been confirmed even by prominent Western experts, and the number of weapons that the Ukrainian army has cannot affect the course of the conflict.

He added: “I want to assure you that this story will also end soon, that you and others who are still defending the Zelensky government will not like it, whether you like it or not. <...> I advise you to prepare for it and draw the necessary conclusions from the course of the situation before the sinking Kiev pulls you into its funnel as well.”

The International Monetary Fund approved another 900 million dollars for Ukraine

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has decided is to allocate 900 million dollars to this country as part of supporting the economic stability of Ukraine.

The published report says: “The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund has completed its consultations with Ukraine and the second discussion on an economic program has ended, which It provides approximately $900 million as part of the current $15.6 billion agreement to support economic stability.”

Earlier in early December, Julie Kozak, director of the International Monetary Fund’s communications department, emphasized that Ukraine will need foreign financing at the level of 42 billion dollars in 2024. According to him, such an amount is necessary to maintain the financial and external stability of Kyiv.

Peter Szijártó, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Hungary and Foreign Economic Relations of Hungary last night after meeting with Olga Stefanyshina, Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine for Euro-Atlantic integration in Brussels. He reminded that the European Union is not yet ready to negotiate with Kyiv regarding the country’s accession to this community.

He told reporters: We do not consider entering into negotiations with Ukraine a tactical issue. The Commission has not been able to prepare sufficiently for such a decision and still does not know what effect Ukraine’s accession to the European Union will have on the member states.

Meanwhile, the Hungarian Foreign Minister A number of alternatives were mentioned that would strengthen the cooperation between the EU and Ukraine. He added: “There are many ways to strengthen cooperation between the European Union and Ukraine, but today the member states are not ready to start accession negotiations, and this is a fact.”

Peter Siyarto, in a meeting with Dmitri Kolba, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine in Brussels, told him He explained that the proposal of the European Commission to start negotiations with Ukraine to join the European Union has not been prepared.

The head of the Hungarian diplomatic service noted that their meeting was the first meeting since February 2022. After this meeting, Siyarto wrote on his Facebook page: Despite a long break, we finally met and discussed Ukraine’s desire for European integration. I explained to my colleague that this is not a tactical issue for us, but a decision of historical importance for the future of the entire European Union. that a proposal to decide on the start of negotiations on the European integration of Kyiv has not been prepared and the European Union does not understand the impact of Ukraine’s membership in the European Union on the whole society.

Foreign Minister Hungary added: “It is enough to think about the uncontrollable problems caused by the previous decision of the European Commission on grain transit or the cancellation of the mandatory license of Ukrainian trucks.” The European Commission has not completed the preparatory work that could guarantee that Ukraine will continue the accession negotiations in a mutually beneficial manner.

The diplomat emphasized. that the assessment of the European Commission that Kyiv has fulfilled four of the seven preconditions is incorrect. According to him, most European politicians want to make a political decision about this, which is not true at all, because we are talking about strategic agreements about the future of Europe.

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine: We are ready to join the European Union “we will dance with any instrument” The foreign minister of the European Union visited Brussels and announced that Kiev is ready to meet any additional conditions for joining the European Union.

He said: “All the key recommendations of the Venice Commission are included in the laws of Ukraine.” If necessary, let’s dance to whatever instrument they tune. But expectations should be fair. If we are told to do something, we will definitely do it.”

Kolba expressed confidence that Ukraine will join the European Union. According to him, this process is very slow or complicated by any obstacles, and this situation is not promising. Increasing military aid to Ukraine

Joseph Borrell, the main official of the foreign and security policy of the European Union, pointed out that the European Commission He invited member states to provide security guarantees to Ukraine, which includes the expansion of military aid to this country. He said: “In the case of Ukraine, we provide advanced security guarantees.” We will make a presentation that will be presented to the European Union summit at the end of this week. Ministers should give me the authority to deliver our guarantees, which mainly include the expansion of the European Peace Fund and the coordination of bilateral agreements between EU countries and Ukraine.”

Burrell also emphasized that despite Hungary’s opposition stance, which has blocked a number of Brussels initiatives, we should not be divided in our support for Ukraine. Border traffic between Poland and Slovakia joined Ukraine

Since Monday, Hungarian truckers closed a border inspection area of ​​this country with Ukraine. Hungarian heavy vehicle drivers protested against the appearance of Ukrainian trucks on the roads of the European Union, limited traffic in the border area with Ukraine, and thus the traffic on this axis has decreased. Dozens of trucks are participating in this protest action.

It is said that this border blockade may last for several days. The police are directing traffic towards the Hungarian-Romanian border.

The truckers of the Slovak Republic are also planning to join this action.

Although Kiev apparently managed to reach an agreement with Warsaw to partially block the border, the Polish truckers’ protest has so far cost the Ukrainian economy 400 million euros. These actions themselves may become evidence of more serious problems in Kyiv, as Hungary and Slovakia are opposed to the start of negotiations on Ukraine’s accession to the European Union, and the media consider the possibility of delaying the start of membership discussions at least until the spring of 2024 unlikely.

Sarkozy called Ukraine’s attempt to join NATO wrong Former French President Sarkozy believes that Ukraine should remain neutral and act as a bridge between Russia and Europe and should not join NATO at all.

He said in an interview He mentioned to the Spanish newspaper “El Mundo” that during his presidency from 2007 to 2012, he was against the joining of Ukraine and Georgia to NATO, because it was provocative to Russia, and now his view remains the same.

Sarkozy said: “Of course, Ukraine has the right to defend itself.” However, trying to protect Ukraine’s NATO membership at all costs is a mistake. Ukraine’s task should be to remain a neutral country, albeit with very strong security guarantees from the international community, and try to once again become a bridge between Russia and Europe.”

He also criticized the attitude that Emmanuel Macron, the current president of France, abandoned the conversation with Vladimir Putin too soon. Sarkozy pointed to the experience of his actions in 2008 in connection with the events in Georgia and said that it is necessary to maintain contacts with Moscow in any situation.

England after The conflict will also maintain the sanctions against Russia

Nusrat Ghani, the British Deputy Minister of Trade and Commerce, promised that the British authorities even after the end of the military conflict in Ukraine will maintain sanctions against Russia. “When the conflict ends, the sanctions will continue, they will not be lifted,” he said at a ceremony on Monday. Because Britain cannot allow Russia’s military capabilities to be restored immediately after the conflict.

Medovev: The West has really entered into a military conflict with Russia >

Dmitry Medvedev, deputy head of the Russian Security Council, emphasized in a meeting with students on Monday that many Western countries have literally entered into a military conflict with Russia.

Medovev said about Russia’s relations with the West: “Our country is now facing a large number of countries that have really entered into a military conflict with us, no matter what the name of this conflict is.” be The fact is that the West is trying to weaken and, if possible, destroy Russia.