Friday, March 29

Zelenskyy expected to tell Congress to ‘wake up before it’s too late’


Emily Horne, a spokesperson for the White House National Security Council, pushed back on Vajdich’s comments.

“We have no idea what this quote is referencing,” she said. “The fact is President Biden authorized a record amount of security assistance over the past year to Ukraine, $1.2 billion, including $650 million before Russia’s invasion.

“He has approved four emergency security packages to provide Ukrainians with the types of weapons, including air defense systems, that they are using so effectively right now to defend their country.”

Vajdich lobbies for a Ukrainian industry association helmed by its state-owned energy company Naftogaz, and is a registered foreign agent. As part of that work, he engages regularly with senior officials in the Ukrainian government.

His comments come after Washington quashed a deal to transfer Polish MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine through the U.S., a decision that frustrated senior Ukrainian officials. The Biden administration has also said it won’t institute a no-fly zone over Ukraine, despite Zelenskyy’s repeated requests, because it fears that doing so could draw the U.S. into a direct confrontation with Russia.

Throughout 2021, Ukrainian officials asked the U.S. for air defense systems to help counter Russia attacks. The U.S. sent $650 million in security aid to Ukraine in 2021, and later green-lighted the transfer of Stinger air defense systems to that country a week after Russia launched its full-scale invasion. Vajdich said, however, that Ukraine needs more support from the U.S. to combat Russia’s bombing campaign.

“The U.S. is holding back the delivery of critical weapons to Ukraine right now based on the same philosophy that it pursued immediately prior to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine: that giving Ukraine the means to defend itself will provoke Russia and lead to escalation,” Vajdich said. “As we now know, that was a dangerously flawed approach. Part of what provoked Russia to invade Ukraine was the unwillingness of the U.S. to provide high-impact military assistance to Ukraine.”

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Oleksandra Ustinova, a Ukrainian member of parliament, told POLITICO that she expects Zelenskyy to reiterate the calls he’s been making since the invasion began.

“I’m sure the president will be asking for the same thing that the Ukrainian people are asking for,” she said. “And they have been asking for three weeks in a row for a no-fly zone and air defense systems and jets to close the sky to protect the civilian population.”

Congress just passed legislation including $13.6 billion to support Ukraine, though about half of that money will go to the Defense Department to restock equipment already sent to Ukraine. And Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced on Saturday that he approved up to $200 million “for additional military assistance for Ukraine’s defense.”

Zelenskyy has been pressing Western leaders to provide Ukraine with more military aid and to intensify their sanctions on Russia. On Tuesday, he addressed Canada’s parliament, where he also reiterated his calls for NATO to enforce a no-fly zone over Ukraine.

“You all need to do more to stop Russia, to protect Ukraine, and by doing that, to protect Europe from Russian threats,” Zelenskyy said in that address. “They are destroying everything.”



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