On visit to Kyiv, Sullivan confident US House will pass additional Ukraine aid, eventually

The US national security adviser reiterated his belief that the House of Representatives will approve additional military aid for Ukraine despite it having been blocked in Congress for months, but was unable to provide a timeline.

On his first visit to Kyiv since accompanying US President Joe Biden to the Ukrainian capital thirteen months ago, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan reiterated his belief the US House of Representatives will eventually approve additional military aid for Ukraine despite it having been blocked – in various iterations – in Congress for months. But speaking to journalists alongside Andriy Yermak, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s head of office, Sullivan was unable to put a timeline on when he expected such a package to pass. “We are confident we will get a strong bipartisan vote in the House for an assistance package for Ukraine and we will get that money out the door [..] It’s already taken too long … I’m not going to make predictions about exactly when this will get done.” Last month, the US Senate approved a supplemental bill which would have unlocked $60 billion of military aid for Ukraine, but House Speaker Mike Johnson refused to bring it to the floor for a vote. Current discussions on Capitol Hill are reportedly focusing on trying to get at least some of the aid approved in the form of a loan, which might secure support from House Republicans. Political deadlock in Washington has coincided with Russia’s most significant battlefield gains for nine months, including the capture of the industrial town of Avdiivka, which Russian forces had been attacking heavily for months. Even so, Biden’s main point man on Ukraine appealed to his hosts not to give up on the US.