(Washington) The Republican leader of the US House of Representatives, Mike Johnson, refused to comment on the future of aid to Ukraine on Wednesday, assuring that negotiations were still underway, despite repeated calls for to act.
“The elected representatives of the House continue to debate the procedure to follow,” he confined himself to saying during a press conference on Wednesday.
A $60 billion package for Kyiv, demanded by Democratic President Joe Biden, has been blocked in the US Congress for months.
“The majority of Democrats and Republicans overwhelmingly support Ukraine. There must be a vote now,” insisted the leader during a press conference.
US President Joe Biden called on the House of Representatives in Washington on Wednesday to immediately vote to release billions of dollars in aid to Ukraine.
These funds were approved in the Senate in February, but supporters of Donald Trump in the House refuse to examine the text as it stands – due, among other things, to a broader dispute over immigration.
“There are a lot of different ideas being studied,” said Mike Johnson on Wednesday, without giving any timetable or providing details on these avenues.
“As you know, this is a very complicated issue at a very complicated time,” the Republican official added.
In the middle of an election year, the issue has in fact transformed into a standoff between Joe Biden and Donald Trump, who is pleading for loans to Kyiv, rather than donations.
By far the primary military support for Ukraine, the United States has not sent a large envelope to Kyiv since December 2022.
Without these funds, “Ukraine will lose the war,” President Volodymyr Zelensky warned on Sunday.