WARSAW (Reuters) – Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski appealed to the U.S. Congress on Thursday to adopt an aid package for Ukraine during a joint news conference with British Foreign Secretary David Cameron.
U.S. President Joe Biden and top officials are pushing the speaker of the House of Representatives, Mike Johnson, for a vote on what the White House says is a critically needed funding bill for Ukraine’s war against Russia that is opposed by former President Donald Trump.
“I would like you to treat this as our joint appeal to the House of Representatives of the United States and personally to Speaker Mike Johnson to put the aid package to a vote in the House,” Sikorski said
“This is a crucial decision that will influence American credibility around the world,” he added.
Trump’s opposition to the Senate-approved $95.34 billion military aid package for Ukraine and Israel means that it may never be voted on in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives.
A small group of moderate Republicans said they were working on an alternate version of the bill that might win Trump’s support.
Western funding is crucial for Kyiv’s ability to repel Russian attacks and keep its battered economy going as the war nears its third year. Poland and Britain have been among Ukraine’s strongest supporters in its efforts to drive back the Russian invaders.
(Reporting by Pawel Florkiewicz and Anna Wlodarczak-Semczuk; Editing by Gareth Jones)
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