White House pledges continued support for Ukraine amid funding impasse

White House on Monday said that it will continue funding war-torn Ukraine after US Congress dropped the aid for Kyiv that was requested by President Joe Biden. Despite the cracks in the US Congress and the NATO Alliance, and Slovakia’s newly elected leader expressing concerns about continuing the support for the war-battered region, the White House has said that the funding will continue to flow to support Ukrainian troops as they wage their counteroffensive to recapture the occupied Ukrainian territories. 

House denied more than $6 billion for Ukraine in the Senate version of the measure in order to avoid the costly government shutdown until Nov. 17. Democrat President Biden said he "fully expected" that Speaker McCarthy would keep his commitment and secure the aid package for Ukraine. Biden stressed that Kyiv needed this American funding as its troops attempted to push the Russian forces back from their territory. 

"We cannot under any circumstances allow American support for Ukraine to be interrupted," Biden said in a statement after the 45-day stopgap measure was inked. 

White House said that it should have a say in Ukraine's funding plans with the House for prioritizing the aid. "What Russia has done is wrong," McCarthy said after the vote. He continued, "Whatever we do, we have to define what victory is and what the plan is."

'Zelenskyy's meeting summed up in one sentence, No aid, we will lose the war': Schumer

The funds were obliterated just days after Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy Capitol met with US President Joe Biden. As a part of the visit, Biden announced an additional aid package valued at $325 million for Kyiv. Zelenskyy met a bipartisan group of House members in the US including Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who later said that he turned down the Ukrainian President's request for an address to the Congress.

The latest Republican resistance to the financial assistance to Kyiv is a demonstration of wavering support for Ukraine. Speaking about Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's visit, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said that lately there was "one sentence summed up Zelenskyy's message in his meeting with the Senate: “'If we don’t get the aid, we will lose the war.'"