Yellen warns Congress of responsibility if aid to Ukraine fails

The United States will be "responsible for the defeat of Ukraine" if Congress does not approve the latest multibillion-dollar funding request from President Joe Biden's administration.

This was stated by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, according to Reuters.

Yellen told reporters during a trip to Mexico City that funding - especially to support Ukraine's state budget - was "essential" and a precondition for continued support from the International Monetary Fund.

"I've talked to members of Congress, my colleagues have. I think they understand this, that this is a dire situation and we can hold ourselves responsible for Ukraine's defeat if we don't manage to get this funding to Ukraine that's needed, and I'm including direct budget support here because that's utterly essential," Yellen said.

The official said that US funding for Ukraine is also important to US allies in Europe, who are providing more generous assistance to help Ukraine win its fight against Russian aggression.

"Ukraine is just running out of money," Yellen said. "They’re spending more than every penny they're taking in, in tax revenue, on military salaries and defense, and they wouldn’t have any schools or hospital or first responders if not for the money we’re sending to them to support them".

American assistance to Ukraine  has come with "very strong controls to guard against any misuse of the funds, any corruption," Yellen said, adding that the government budget support was being channeled through the World Bank, which has strong anti-corruption safeguards to ensure the money goes to intended uses.

As a reminder, US President Joe Biden has requested $106 billion from Congress to help Israel and Ukraine, as well as to strengthen the defense industry. Of this amount, $61.3 billion was proposed to be allocated to Ukraine and $14.3 billion to Israel. This package is currently being considered by Congress.

Author – Anastasiya Glotova, 06/12/2023