McCarthy: US border crisis considered more important than Ukraine

After passing temporary legislation to prevent a US government shutdown on Sunday, Kevin McCarthy said he was committed to helping Ukraine but resolving the US border crisis was a higher priority.McCarthy added: “My priority is America and the borders of this country. I support providing Ukraine with the necessary weapons, but first I support the border (of my country). So we have to find a way to do this together.”

Some representatives of the US Republican Party are against allocating a large budget to help Ukraine when approving the budget bill for the new fiscal year in the US. At the same time, the issue of supporting Ukraine is a priority for the Republican leader in the US Senate, Mitch McConnell.Senate Democratic Majority Leader Chuck Schumer assured that funding assistance to Ukraine remains a priority.

McCarthy announced he would introduce a stopgap bill to prevent a government shutdown until November 17, but there's a big problem: "This bill does not include aid to Ukraine, and its absence would be a blow to the Joe Biden administration and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky."Last week, Zelensky, at a meeting with Biden and American lawmakers, once again asked for increased funding to protect Kyiv from Moscow.

Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky said after removing aid to Kyiv from the US budget bill that nothing would weaken Ukraine's fight with Russia.Zelensky added that Ukraine will stop resistance and struggle only on victory day.Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, in a telephone conversation with US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, received assurances about increasing military assistance.

While in Ukraine, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell asked US lawmakers to reconsider their decision to exclude financial support for Ukraine from the approved budget bill to prevent a US federal government shutdown.Borrell noted that European officials were surprised by the agreement between American lawmakers and the US administration in Washington, and the EU will continue to help Ukraine until Moscow is defeated.

A European official said that since the beginning of the war, the European Union has allocated 85 billion euros to help Ukraine, which also includes military assistance.Meanwhile, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said on Sunday that there are currently no plans to send British troops on a training mission to Ukraine and that the plan could be implemented in the future.

Just hours before the possible shutdown of the Biden administration, representatives from the Republican and Democratic parties in the US Congress agreed to approve the US government budget for a short-term period of 45 days.Just a few hours before the deadline, Republicans and Democrats in the US Congress approved the government's budget for a period of 45 days with 335 votes in favor and 91 votes against.

WP