WASHINGTON: German Chancellor Olaf Scholz urged the US Congress to approve a long-delayed, multi-billion-dollar aid package for Ukraine’s military ahead of a White House meeting with President Joe Biden on Friday.
“Without US help, the situation in Ukraine would be very complicated,” he told a press conference, urging Congress to act “very soon.”
The Scholz-Biden meeting will likely also feature talks on escalating tensions in the Middle East, where Israel’s war against Hamas shows no sign of let up and Washington has launched strikes on Iran-linked targets following attacks on American troops.
Biden could also bring up the issue of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who is imprisoned in Russia.
White House to intensify push for Ukraine aid and border security deal
President Vladimir Putin hinted on Thursday that he was interested in a prisoner swap where the US reporter would be freed as part of a deal in which Germany would release a Russian convicted of assassinating a fugitive former Chechen rebel in Berlin.
Ukraine, however, is likely to dominate the Oval Office meeting. The pro-Western country is entering its third year of war against Russian invasion as the US Republican Party, led by presidential candidate Donald Trump, is increasingly turning its back.
The Senate is debating a bill to renew the flow of weapons, ammunition and other crucial help for Ukraine’s battered army, but the bill – if passed – faces an even harder hurdle in the Republican-led House of Representatives.
The United States is Kyiv’s biggest military backer and Germany its second.
The Senate package would authorize $60 billion in military aid for Kyiv. In Europe, meanwhile, EU leaders last week finally overcame stalling by right-wing Hungarian leader Viktor Orban and gave the green light to 50 billion euros ($54 billion) in economic aid.
Ahead of his trip, Scholz wrote in The Wall Street Journal to warn that a Russian victory in Ukraine would “dramatically change the face of Europe” and “deal a severe blow to the liberal world order.”
Mideast tensions
The Middle East will also be in focus at Friday’s talks. Regional tensions rose after the death of three American soldiers in Jordan at the end of January, marking the first US military losses to hostile fire in the region since the Israel-Hamas war broke out on October 7.
Germany has backed Israel but also repeatedly warned of the dangers of a wider conflict, while stepping up calls for more humanitarian aid to reach the war-ravaged Gaza Strip.
Biden sharpened his criticism of Israel in remarks late Thursday when he said that the military operation in Gaza “has been over the top.”