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Blinken promises Ukraine’s leader “enduring” U.S. support as war with Russia nears 2-year mark
Secretary of State Antony Blinken promised sustained U.S. support for Ukraine in a meeting Tuesday with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, despite a row in the U.S. Congress on approving new funding.
“We are determined to sustain our support for Ukraine and we’re working very closely with Congress in order to work to do that. I know our European colleagues will do the same thing,” Blinken told Zelenskyy as they met at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
The Biden administration has struggled to get Congress to approve a $60 billion aid package for Ukraine in the face of opposition from Republican lawmakers.
Fabrice Coffrini/AFP via Getty Images
U.S. funding for Ukraine locked up in Congress
President Biden’s request for the Ukraine aid, part of a $106 billion foreign aid package, has been stalled for weeks amid demands from Republicans — including many supportive of the Ukraine assistance — that it include strict new border security provisions and changes to U.S. immigration policy.
Negotiations continue, but the White House warned before Christmas that the U.S. would run out of funding to assist Ukraine by the end of 2023 if more was not approved, with President Biden warning that if the funding wasn’t approved, it would be the “greatest Christmas gift” for Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
Given former President Donald Trump’s bid to return to the White House with the U.S. elections in November, and his previous remarks suggesting some level of trust in Putin, Zelenskyy has been keen to stress to American politicians the importance of U.S. assistance as his country tries to fend off Russia’s ongoing invasion.
State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said Blinken and national security adviser Jake Sullivan had both discussed with Zelenskyy in Davos “the importance of continued global assistance to support Ukraine as it fights for its freedom and sovereignty” and “strongly reiterated the United States’ enduring support for Ukraine and its territorial integrity in the face of Russia’s illegal war of aggression.”
European funding for Ukraine blocked by Hungary
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Tuesday said Ukraine’s allies need to guarantee stable backing for Kyiv as questions swirl over future support from not only the United States, but the European Union.
“Ukraine can prevail in this war. But we must continue to empower their resistance,” the head of the EU’s executive arm told the Davos forum. “Ukrainians need predictable financing throughout 2024 and beyond. They need a sufficient and sustained supply of weapons to defend Ukraine and regain its rightful territory.”
EU leaders will hold a summit on Feb. 1 to try to overcome a block from Hungary on providing 50 billion euros ($54.5 billion) in financial aid to Ukraine over the next four years.
The government in Kyiv desperately needs the funds to prop up its economy and keep services working as Russia’s all-out war heads toward the start of its third year.
Budapest — Moscow’s closest ally in the 27-nation EU — has signaled that it could agree to the aid if it is given the chance each year to veto further payments. EU officials say that if they cannot win over Hungary, the other 26 member states will look to provide cash outside the EU’s budget, but this would likely be for a shorter timeframe.
Despite the concerns over funding and Ukraine’s failure to make a breakthrough on the battlefield, von der Leyen said Russia was still “failing on strategic goals” with its war.
“Russia has lost roughly half of its military capabilities. Ukraine has driven Russia out of half the territories it had captured. Ukraine has pushed back Russia’s Black Sea Fleet,” she said. “Russia’s failure is also economic. Sanctions have decoupled its economy from modern technology and innovation. It is now dependent on China.”
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Sen. Thom Tillis says “the scope” of Helene damage in North Carolina “is more like Katrina”
As recovery missions and repairs continue in North Carolina more than a week after Hurricane Helene carved a path of devastation through the western part of the state, the state’s Republican Sen. Thom Tillis called for more resources to bolster the relief effort and likened the damage to Hurricane Katrina’s mark on Louisiana in 2005.
“This is unlike anything that we’ve seen in this state,” Tillis told CBS News’ Margaret Brennan on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” on Sunday morning. “We need increased attention. We need to continue to increase the surge of federal resources.”
Hurricane Helene ripped through the Southeast U.S. after making landfall in Florida on Sept. 26 as a powerful Category 4 storm. Helene brought heavy rain and catastrophic flooding to communities across multiple states, including Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia, with North Carolina bearing the brunt of the destruction. Officials previously said hundreds of roads in western North Carolina were washed out and inaccessible after the storm, hampering rescue operations, and several highways were blocked by mudslides.
Tillis said Sunday that most roads in the region likely remained closed due to flooding and debris. Water, electricity and other essential services still have not been fully restored.
“The scope of this storm is more like Katrina,” he said. “It may look like a flood to the outside observer, but again, this is a landmass roughly the size of the state of Massachusetts, with damage distributed throughout. We have to get maximum resources on the ground immediately to finish rescue operations.”
Hurricane Katrina left more than 1,000 people dead after it slammed into Louisiana’s Gulf Coast in August 2005, flooding neighborhoods and destroying infrastructure in and around New Orleans as well as in parts of the surrounding region. It was the deadliest hurricane to hit the mainland U.S. in the last 50 years, and the costliest storm on record.
The death toll from Hurricane Helene is at least 229, CBS News has confirmed, with at least 116 of those deaths reported in North Carolina alone. Officials have said they expect the death toll to continue to rise as recovery efforts were ongoing, and a spokesperson for the police department in Asheville told CBS News Friday their officers were “actively working 75 cases of missing persons.”
On Saturday, the U.S. Department of Transportation released $100 million in emergency funds for North Carolina to rebuild the roads and bridges damaged by the hurricane.
“We are providing this initial round of funding so there’s no delay getting roads repaired and reopened, and re-establishing critical routes,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in a statement. “The Biden-Harris administration will be with North Carolina every step of the way, and today’s emergency funding to help get transportation networks back up and running safely will be followed by additional federal resources.”
President Biden previously announced that the federal government would cover “100%” of costs for debris removal and emergency protective measures in North Carolina for six months.
With North Carolina leaders working with a number of relief agencies to deal with the aftermath of the storm, Tillis urged federal officials to ramp up the resources being funneled into the state’s hardest-hit areas. The senator also addressed a surge in conspiracy theories and misinformation about the Biden Administration’s disaster response, which have been fueled by Republican political figures like former President Donald Trump.
Trump falsely claimed that Mr. Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, his Democratic opponent in the November presidential election, were diverting funds from Federal Emergency Management Agency that would support the relief effort in North Carolina toward initiatives for immigrants. He also said baselessly that the administration and North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat, were withholding funds because many communities that were hit hardest are predominantly Republican. Elon Musk has shared false claims about FEMA, too.
“Many of these observations are not even from people on the ground,” Tillis said of those claims. “I believe that we have to stay focused on rescue operations, recovery operations, clearing operations, and we don’t need any of these distractions on the ground. It’s at the expense of the hard-working first responders and people that are just trying to recover their lives.”
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