Janet Yellen Joins Zelensky In Saying US Would Be "Responsible For Ukraine's Defeat"
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen says the United States would be "responsible for Ukraine's defeat" if Congress fails to approve the Biden administration's $106 billion request to fund the wars in Ukraine and Israel, among other security issues.
Yellen made the remarks Tuesday to reporters while on a trip to Mexico City, calling the funding "utterly essential" and as a pre-condition for the International Monetary Fund to keep funds flowing uninterrupted into Ukraine, according to Reuters.
"I've talked to members of Congress, my colleagues have. I think they understand this, that this is a dire situation and we can hold ourselves responsible for Ukraine's defeat if we don't manage to get this funding to Ukraine that's needed, and I'm including direct budget support here because that's utterly essential," Yellen said.
She issued the rebuke the same day that President Zelensky's chief of staff said something very similar before a security conference in D.C.
Ukraine aid will stop flowing in a matter of three weeks. Zelensky's chief of staff Andriy Yermak said the following words Tuesday:
If the United States postpones military aid to Ukraine, there is a “big risk” the country could lose its war with Russia, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s chief of staff Andriy Yermak said Tuesday.
Speaking at the U.S. Institute for Peace during a visit to Washington, Yermak said failure by Congress to approve more aid to Ukraine could make it “impossible” to liberate more territory captured by Russia and “give the big risk to lose this war.”
“If the help which (is) now debating in Congress will be just postponed. ... It gives the big risk that we can be in same position (where) we’re located now,” said Yermak, speaking in English.
“That is why it is extremely critically important that this support will be voted and will be voted as soon as possible,” he said.
But the reality is that Ukrainian forces were already losing the war, given top US officials have long acknowledged the counteroffensive has stalled and failed, even with all the weapons the US has already poured in.
NOW - Biden: "Congress needs to pass supplemental funding for Ukraine before they break for the holiday."pic.twitter.com/DfEOhb6Y9w
— Disclose.tv (@disclosetv) December 6, 2023
Thus Yermak's statements seem more like an early blame-game: Ukraine seems to be saying it will be Washington's fault when the war is lost and Kiev is forced to finally negotiate and cede territory. And Yellen says she agrees.