German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is to push US politicians to agree on a deal to fund Ukraine during an official visit to the country.
Democrats have argued for the implementation of a bill that will guarantee more than $60 billion (€55 billion) in support to Kyiv in its defensive war against Russia. Scholz will outline his stance when he arrives in Washington on February 9.
Republicans have so far refused to accept the Democrat proposal over concerns the administration of US President Joe Biden is neglecting the migrant crisis on the American Southern border.
Republicans insists that issue must first be addressed before more funding is handed to Ukraine.
Scholz appears keen to break this deadlock, with Government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit emphasising the German leader will use the visit as an opportunity to try to cement a deal.
“The Chancellor will certainly use this trip to enter into dialogue with both the Senate and the House of Representatives,” he said.
Scholz echoed the point, saying the US needed to emulate the European Union’s decision to hand more funding to Ukraine to present a united Western front against Russian President Vladimir Putin’s aggression.
“I very much hope that the United States and the American Congress will soon make a decision to make the necessary support financially possible,” he said.
The Chancellor added that Moscow must be shown that it will not be able to let the invasion of Ukraine drag on in the hope of Western support dissipating over time.
“We will support Ukraine,” he said, arguing that Russia’s apparent strategy of prolonging the conflict “won’t work”.
Polish President Andrzej Duda has expressed doubts that Crimea, occupied and then annexed by Russia, will ever “return” to Ukraine. https://t.co/5PCE9BYO3m
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) February 5, 2024
Scholz’s hopes for a US deal on funding for Ukraine will likely put him on a collision course with former US president Donald Trump.
Trump has so far rejected calls to increase financial support for Ukraine on the principle that the current US Government has failed to deal with the ongoing migrant crisis on the country’s Southern border.
Thousands of illegal migrants are now reportedly entering the country through Mexico on a daily basis. Republicans blame the increase in arrivals on the Biden administration.
Trump has also rejected a compromise proposal put forward by US Senators that aims to fund both Ukraine and US border control efforts. The presidential race frontrunner claims that deal does not go far enough.
“Only a fool, or a Radical Left Democrat, would vote for this horrendous Border Bill,” he wrote on social media site truthsocial.com.
“This Bill is a great gift to the Democrats, and a Death Wish for The Republican Party. It takes the HORRIBLE JOB the Democrats have done on Immigration and the Border, absolves them, and puts it all squarely on the shoulders of Republicans,” he said.
He argued that the US now needed a separate bill focused solely on controlling illegal immigration that is not tied to the delivery of aid to any foreign country.
The European Union risks being left “on its own” if the US opts to return Donald Trump to the White House as President, the Prime Minister of Belgium has said. https://t.co/EfCyh23Tjx
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) January 17, 2024
