US President Biden's visit to Ukraine only a matter of time: Intelligence Committee Chief

“It’s only a matter of time” before US President Joe Biden visits Ukraine, revealed US House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff to CNN. While detailing the roughly three-hour-long discussion between the Congressional delegation and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that took place in Kyiv, Schiff said that he thinks the presidential visit is “under consideration”. However, the US House Intelligence Committee Chairman noted that the only question around Biden’s Ukraine visit is how soon will it be “feasible”. 

“I have to think that a presidential visit is something under consideration, but only a question of how soon that will be feasible," Schiff told CNN.

He further noted that the US delegation, which arrived in Kyiv, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, did not discuss US President's visit to Ukraine on the call with Biden on Sunday. Schiff said that the meeting with the Ukrainian President focused on what his priorities are regarding future assistance, especially at a time when the Moscow-Kyiv war entered a new phase with fighting concentrated in eastern Ukraine. Additionally, Schiff said that the members of the delegation subsequently relayed the information to Biden on the call and made recommendations to Biden. 

It’s Zelenksyy’s ‘job to say that nothing is enough’, says Schiff

As per the report, when Schiff was asked what Zelenskyy thought about the $33 billion price tag that Biden requested in his supplemental aid request for Ukraine to Congress, Schiff replied, “It's his job to say that nothing is enough and, you know, we understand that, we respect that. Nonetheless, I think he's very grateful for what we're doing."

"We wanted to discuss with him, within that really vast sum, what is the priority in terms of what weapons that he needs, what other assistance that he needs," he told the media outlet while adding, “We went through a detailed discussion of the next phase of the war. It's moving from a phase in which Ukrainians were ambushing Russian tanks -- it was close-quarters fighting -- to fighting more at a distance using long-range artillery, and that changes the nature of what Ukraine needs to defend itself.”

Image: AP