Harris announces $1.5 billion in aid to Ukraine | The Arkansas Democratic Gazette

OBBÜRGEN, Switzerland — Vice President Kamala Harris on Saturday pledged America’s full support to support Ukraine and global efforts to achieve “a just and lasting peace” in the face of Russia’s invasion, representing States -United at an international gathering on war and reunion. with Ukrainian Volodymyr Zelenskyy to discuss his country’s vision for ending it.

As she arrived at the meeting venue overlooking Lake Lucerne, Harris announced $1.5 billion in U.S. aid through the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development . This includes money for energy aid, repairing damaged energy infrastructure, helping refugees and strengthening civil security in the wake of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s aggression.

Russia’s aggression is more than just an attack “on the lives and freedom of the Ukrainian people,” Harris told leaders of 100 countries and world organizations attending the summit. “This is not just an attack on global food security and energy supplies. Russia’s aggression is also an attack on international rules and norms as well as the principles enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations.” , Harris said. She said the United States was determined to continue “to impose costs on Russia and that we will continue to work toward a just and lasting peace,” reaffirming words she used at the start of her private meeting with Zelensky.

For Zelensky, the gathering was a start toward finding “real peace.”

“The world majority definitely wants to live without bloody crises, deportations and ecocides,” Zelensky said. “And so, every nation that is not represented today and that shares the same values ​​of the United Nations Charter in deed and word will be able to join our work in the next steps.”

President Joe Biden was in Los Angeles after three days attending the Group of Seven summit in Italy, where he spoke with Zelenskyy. Biden flew from Europe to California for a fundraiser Saturday night with Hollywood stars George Clooney and Julia Roberts.

The decision to skip the Ukraine summit highlights the competing election-year demands Biden faces as he tries to balance a complex domestic and foreign policy agenda while running against former President Donald Trump. It also reflects the growing profile Harris has found in favor of a second Biden term as the 2024 campaign heats up.

“Being vice president means you take a lot of hits for the team,” said Matt Bennett, who served as an aide to former Vice President Al Gore. “In the past, these moments on the world stage have been good for her. She looks presidential and very competent among world leaders.”

Zelenskyy, for months, has publicly pressured Biden and other world leaders to attend the meeting, even warning that their absence could further embolden Putin in his 28-month war. Biden ultimately decided to send Harris and White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan to represent the administration.

“Skipping the summit is a missed opportunity for the president and for the United States,” said Bradley Bowman, senior director of the Center on Military and Political Power at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies in Washington. “That said, sending the vice president with the national security adviser is not exactly sending the junior varsity team.”

ZELENSKYY PRAISES UNITY

Zelensky told his fellow leaders that with this gathering they had managed to avoid a frightening pitfall of war: the division of the world into camps. But he said they still have a lot to accomplish with the conference.

“At the first peace summit we must determine how to achieve a just peace, so that at the second we can already decide on a real end to the war,” he said.

Biden is increasingly turning to Harris as he tries to rally the coalition of voters behind victory over Trump — and one more is needed to help him win a second term. Harris has taken a more visible role in promoting Biden to a diverse cross-section of the Democratic base.

But like Biden, Harris has also seen her standing among Americans decline. About 4 in 10 registered voters have a somewhat or very favorable opinion of Harris, according to a recent survey by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. About half have a somewhat or very unfavorable opinion of her, and about 1 in 10 don’t know enough to say so. His favorability ratings are similar to Biden’s.

The Trump campaign criticized Harris for her surrogate role in Switzerland, with spokesperson Karoline Leavitt saying the vice president has “failed thus far in every task assigned to her.” Trump and his allies have at times lashed out at Harris, suggesting that a vote for Biden is actually a vote for Harris to ultimately become president.

Russia was not invited to the Swiss summit. Putin promised on Friday to “immediately” order a ceasefire in Ukraine and begin negotiations if kyiv begins to withdraw its troops from the four regions annexed by Moscow in 2022 and abandons its plan to join the NATO. Ukraine called Putin’s proposal “manipulative” and “absurd.” Harris said Putin “is not calling for negotiations. He is calling for capitulation. America stands with Ukraine, not out of charity but because it is in our strategic interest.”

Biden may have eased the disappointment over his absence from the Ukraine meeting with a series of announcements in recent weeks aimed at further strengthening Ukraine.

G7 leaders this week announced a $50 billion loan program for Kyiv that will help mobilize interest and revenue from more than $260 billion in frozen Russian assets.

Biden and Zelensky signed a security agreement on Thursday that commits the United States over 10 years to continued training of Ukraine’s armed forces, more cooperation in the production of weapons and military equipment, and greater sharing of information.

Biden approved sending Ukraine another Patriot missile system, which Zelenskyy said is desperately needed to defend against Russian strikes on Ukraine’s power grid and civilian areas, as well as on military targets.

And late last month, Biden eased restrictions that prevented Ukraine from using U.S. weapons to strike in Russia. This authorizes strikes inside Russia with the limited aim of defending the second-largest city of Kharkiv, located 20 km from the border and which has been bombarded by attacks launched from inside Russia.

Information for this article was provided by Amelia Thomson DeVeaux of The Associated Press.