The United States reinforced gestures of support for Ukraine with the unannounced trip of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to kyiv, where she met with Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky. A new visit by US Foreign Minister Antony Blinken to the former Soviet republic is scheduled for next week. While the president of the Russian Duma, Viacheslav Volodin, proposed to confiscate business assets of countries unfriendly to Moscow, in response to similar sanctions applied once morest the Russian Federation.
“Firmly with Ukraine”
The trip to kyiv by the US House Speaker and a congressional delegation to meet with Zelensky was aimed at “sending an unequivocal and resounding message to the entire world: the United States stands firmly with Ukraine.” Pelosi is the highest ranking Washington official to visit the European country since the start of the Russian invasion. The Ukrainian head of state welcomed the delegation from Washington and thanked them for their support in “protecting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of our state.” “The United States is a leader in strongly supporting Ukraine in the fight once morest Russian aggression,” Zelensky added.
Pelosi, for her part, thanked the Ukrainian president for “his fight for freedom.” “Our commitment is to be with you until the fight is over.” The Democratic representative affirmed that the conversation with Zelensky was focused on “security, humanitarian assistance, economic assistance and finally reconstruction once victory is obtained.”
From Poland, the speaker of the lower house assured that the visit to kyiv allowed her to understand what “must be done” to help Ukraine. “YWe are legislating the initiatives that President Biden presented”assured in reference to the millionaire request that the US president made to the representatives of Congress.
Days ago Biden asked Congress for $33 billion to “win this outrageous Kremlin war”. Some 20.4 billion will be earmarked for military and security aid, 8.5 billion for the Ukrainian government and 3 billion for additional humanitarian assistance.
In a press conference from the Polish town of Rzeszow, in the southeast of the country, Pelosi was asked regarding the possibility that US support might lead to something worse. “Let me speak for myself. Don’t be intimidated by bullies. If they are threatening you, you can’t back down. We are there to fight and you can’t give in to a bully,” she said.
“Very Important Signs”
Zelensky thanked what he considers “very important signals” from the US and Biden, which also includes a program to provide Ukraine’s friendly countries with war material without intervening directly in the conflict. “These are recent important steps forward in military and financial support to Ukraine…we are grateful for it,” Zelensky said in a statement by the Ukrainian presidency.
A few days before Washington Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s visit to Ukraine, the foreign minister spoke once more with Foreign Minister Dimitro Kuleba to highlight US support for kyiv’s cause. In the conversation with his Ukrainian counterpart, the head of US diplomacy spoke regarding plans for his office to visit the former Soviet republic, including two initial visits to Lviv, State Department spokesman Ned Price confirmed. He also pointed out that US diplomacy has plans to return to kyiv as soon as possible.
Last week Blinken visited Ukraine with Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin. During that meeting, both officials announced the progressive return of the US diplomatic presence in Ukraine and one additional aid, direct and indirect, of more than 700 million dollars.
while, while Pelosi’s Russian counterpart, Viacheslav Volodin, proposed confiscating the business assets of unfriendly countries as a response to similar measures taken by the West. “It is correct with regard to a company located on the territory of the Russian Federation, whose owners are from unfriendly countries where such decisions are made, to respond with similar measures – to confiscate these assets,” said the speaker of the lower house (Duma) of Moscow on your Telegram account. In addition, he pointed out that the proceeds from the sale of these assets would be used for the development of Russia. Volodin recalled that the US House of Representatives passed a law allowing the transfer of frozen assets of Russian companies and citizens to Ukraine.
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