Biden tells Zelensky what Russia’s ‘done to your children is criminal’ | News News

US President Joe Biden told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that Russia has done ‘criminal’ acts against the country’s children, and granted $325million more in aid.

The new package funds air defense capabilities, anti-tank weapons, cluster munitions and other equipment for Ukraine to fight off Russia. It is the 47th tranche of equipment from the Pentagon’s inventories to be given to Ukraine since August 2021.

Biden said the new aid package will ‘protect Ukraine, Ukraine’s grain silos, hospitals, schools and power plants’ and that it ‘will help save Ukrainian lives’.

Zelensky spent the day lobbying in the White House and Capitol. He remarked the trip was ‘very important’, as he met with lawmakers and the Biden administration.

His visit did not have the bells and whistles of his first wartime visit to the US in December, when lawmakers greeted him with great enthusiasm.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy did not invite Zelensky to do a joint address to Congress, saying ‘we just didn’t have time’. Some fellow Republicans have become skeptical and hesitant of continuing to send millions to Ukraine, seeing Kyiv’s counteroffensive moving slowly.

But Biden reiterated that the US will stand with Ukraine.

When a reporter asked Zelensky if Congress members had assured him of any funding, Biden stepped in and said: ‘I’m counting on the good judgment of the United States Congress. There’s no alternative.’

Zelensky thanked Americans in an emotional evening speech at the National Archive. He highlighted the common values of democracy that Americans and Ukrainians share.

‘There is not a soul in Ukraine that does not feel gratitude to you, America,’ said Zelensky. ‘To you, the people who help us not because you have to but because your heart cannot let you do otherwise.’

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