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PARIS.- The president of the United States, Joe Biden, publicly apologized for the first time on Friday to his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky, due to the interruption of several months in the delivery of military aid, which allowed Russia to gain ground on the battlefield. Furthermore, he announced a new package of help from Washington for 225 million dollars.
“America will always be with you,” Biden said during a meeting in Paris with Zelensky, who thanked him for the “huge support” of Washington in its war to defend itself from the Russian invasion.
At the meeting, Biden apologized for the delay of several months in approving military aid and blamed opposition from conservative Republicans in Congress. But he promised to maintain his support for Ukraine against Russian aggression.
“I apologize for the weeks of uncertainty about what was going to happen, in terms of financing.because we had problems passing the bill that contained the sending of money,” Biden told his Ukrainian counterpart before a private meeting in Paris. “Some of our very conservative members were blocking it.”
Both are in France on the occasion of the ceremonies for the 80th anniversary of the Normandy Landings, which brought together Western leaders with Zelensky the day before in northwest France, but without his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin.
The meeting was the first between American and Ukrainian leaders since Decemberand comes after a decision by Biden last week to give Ukraine permission to fire US-supplied weapons on Russian territory, a major turn after more than two years of conditionalities aimed at avoiding escalation with an adversary that possesses weapons nuclear.
According to Zelensky, this package was designed to “help Ukraine rebuild the power grid” damaged by the war. American officials said the funding included money for air defenses that could, among other things, defend an energy grid that has been severely degraded by relentless Russian attacks.
The United States is, by far, the main provider of war aid to Ukraine, which is trying to defend itself from an intense Russian offensive in the east of the country. The Kremlin’s new operation is focused on the border regions of Kharkiv and Donetsk, but local authorities warn it could expand as Moscow’s larger military tries to press its advantage.
Before the French National Assembly, Zelensky assured that “Europe is no longer a continent of peace” and that Putin is a “common enemy” of Ukraine and Europe.
In the presence of the Ukrainian president, the Franco-German arms group KNDS made official this Friday the creation of a subsidiary in Ukraine to produce equipment and ammunition.
Western countries increased their aid to kyiv as Russia gains ground in its offensive launched in February 2022 to invade Ukraine.
On Thursday night, the French president, Emmanuel Macronannounced the supply of Mirage-2000 fighters and the training of Ukrainian pilots in France starting this summer.
Macron also indicated that France had proposed training 4,500 soldiers on Ukrainian territory.
In response, the Kremlin accused France this Friday of being “willing” to “directly participate in the conflict” in Ukraine.
“The Western world “It wants to maintain a hegemonic role, but it is losing it”Putin said this Friday, at the beginning of his speech at the plenary session of the International Economic Forum in Saint Petersburg.
At the same time, today afternoon, Biden will speak from Pointe du Hoc in Normandy, with the aim of further linking the fight to liberate Europe from Nazi tyranny with the effort to defend Ukraine against Russian aggression eight decades later.
Agencies AFP, AP and The New York Times
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