PARIS — President Joe BidenUkraine’s grand promises to stick with Ukraine during its trip to France are not enough for Kiev, which will continue to push the US and its other allies to do more to help turn the war in Ukraine’s favor.
After a ceremony commemorating the 80th anniversary of D-Day on Thursday, Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met at a hotel in Paris on Friday. And Biden assured Zelenskyy that the US is in the fight with Ukraine until the end.
“I assure you that the United States will support you,” Biden said in a brief appearance before reporters at the start of their meeting. “You are the bulwark against the aggression that is taking place. We have a duty to be there. … We are still here, fully and thoroughly.”
Zelenskyy thanked the US for its support, but also noted that there was more to discuss. He said he did not want to share certain updates about the war while members of the press were in the room, but that he planned to raise them with Biden. “There are some details about the battlefield that you need to hear from us,” he said. Their private meeting lasted 30 minutes.
Zelenskyy is already scoring some victories on his journey. Biden announced Friday that he is signing a new Ukraine package worth $225 million, part of which will go toward repairing Ukraine’s power grid. The package also includes artillery ammunition, air defense missiles and anti-tank weapons, Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced Friday.
French President Emmanuel Macron also announced Thursday that Paris will help train 4,500 Ukrainian soldiers and pilots and give the country a number of Mirage 2000 fighter jets. Zelenskyy will also meet with Macron during his visit.
Still, some Ukrainian lawmakers and people close to Zelenskyy’s office are not confident that their allies are ready to provide aid quickly enough to win the war. That’s even after rallying cries like a speech Biden gave Thursday during the D-Day commemoration, in which he emphasized that if Russia gains the upper hand, “all of Europe will be threatened.”
Some officials in Kiev don’t buy the rhetoric: “His D-Day speech doesn’t matter,” said one person who spoke to officials in Zelenskyy’s office and was granted anonymity to speak candidly. Among top Ukrainian officials, it is seen as empty rhetoric, the person explained.
There are some recent moves by Biden that have led to this sense of skepticism in Kiev.
This week, Biden reiterated his opposition to allowing Ukraine to join NATO and opted not to attend the upcoming peace summit in Switzerland, sending Vice President Kamala Harris in his place. And while Biden last week authorized Kiev to attack inside Russia with U.S. weapons, many in Zelenskyy’s government say the authorization is too limited, limited to the area around one city.
“This solution remains half-hearted. Limiting the series of attacks on Russia cannot guarantee our victory,” said Yehor Cherniev, deputy chairman of the Committee on National Security, Defense and Intelligence of the Ukrainian parliament.
Four key points were on the Ukrainian leader’s wish list for his meetings Friday, two senior Ukrainian government officials said ahead of the discussions, granting anonymity to speak freely. Zelenskyy planned to pressure both Biden and Macron to seize $300 billion in Russian financial assets held in their countries and use the money to finance Ukraine’s war effort. Together with Biden, he planned to focus on securing more long-range missiles and lifting the ban on their use deeper into Russia than just the border areas bordering Kharkiv.
“As always, he will call for more air defense systems – not only to protect our cities but also our frontlines,” one of the officials said.
Kiev plans to use the upcoming NATO summit, to be held in Washington next month, to push for more Patriot air defense systems in particular, Olga Stefanishyna, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister for EU and Euro-Atlantic Integration, told reporters. to POLITICO. She also expects “specific decisions” on Ukraine’s membership in NATO.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment on Ukraine’s complaints. However, a senior administration official, granted anonymity to speak candidly, called criticism of Biden’s comments “nonsense,” saying the president created the vast coalition of countries now backing the country in its war with Russia.
Appearing alongside Zelenskyy, Biden told the Ukrainian president: “You didn’t bow at all. You continue to fight in a way that is simply remarkable. And I’m not going to run away from you.”
Biden also apologized to the Ukrainian president for the delay of the latest additional aid package because, he said, “some conservatives blocked it.”
Washington has united dozens of countries behind Ukraine’s cause, providing the country with tens of billions in economic and military aid. The White House has also gradually acceded to Ukraine’s wishes over the course of the war, most recently by partially lifting missile restrictions.
That was a welcome change for Ukraine, but it is unlikely to lead to a major change in the war anytime soon. Russian forces have pushed into the northeastern Kharkiv region in recent weeks, clashing with Ukrainian forces, who have not yet managed to recapture territory.
To see real results on the battlefield, Cherniev, the Ukrainian lawmaker, said Ukraine must be given the ability to use Army Tactical Missile Systems, which have a range of nearly 200 miles, and other long-range weapons to strike deep inside Russia. The current restriction will only marginally benefit Ukraine’s defensive capabilities, he argued.
Despite criticism from Kiev and Ukraine backers in Congress, the Biden administration says it sees a clear path to Ukrainian victory as the war enters its third summer — but that will take time.
The US must dig Kiev out of the “huge hole” left by Congress’ failure to approve funding for Ukraine for six months and strengthen its defense lines, the senior administration official said when asked about the path to victory. Subsequently, Ukraine will regain the territory it lost while additional financing was held up.
Simply allowing Ukraine to strike deeper is not the panacea, the official said: Ukraine needs and receives “a combination of many different capabilities” from the West.
Ukraine is starting to get the combination of capabilities it needs to potentially turn the tide, said George Barros, an analyst at the Institute for the Study of War. But if Washington were to further relax restrictions on the use of US weapons, Kiev could make short-term gains, he argued.
The White House still needs to make a few changes. … This could be a game changer if implemented correctly and within the timeline,” Barros said.
The Biden administration believes that allowing such capabilities to Kiev would prompt Russia to expand the war, and Russian President Vladimir Putin warned that its missiles could hit the US or Europe. He also threatened to supply weapons to the West’s opponents in retaliation for the US and Britain sending long-range missiles to Ukraine.
The effort to free seized Russian assets is receiving increased support from the Biden administration.
Biden’s short-term focus is on leveraging the $300 billion in seized Russian assets to generate more aid to support Zelensky’s military. The US has pushed G7 allies to formulate a plan before next week’s summit in Italy that would provide a loan of about $50 billion to Ukraine, which would be repaid over time with interest on the seized assets taken, the majority of which are held in Europe.
But Macron is concerned about the plan and is seen as the only holdover who could prevent the G7 from approving it at next week’s meetings, according to two senior US government officials granted anonymity to discuss the sensitive topic.
National security adviser Jake Sullivan said the plan to use seized Russian assets “will be a substantial agenda item” when Biden and Macron meet in Paris on Saturday as part of the president’s official state visit to France.
“We’re going to take a big step to see if we can get clarity on a path forward over the course of the next few days,” Sullivan said Tuesday evening aboard Air Force One.
He added: “This is a priority for the United States. We believe it is a priority for the entire G7. We want every country to come on board with a method by which we can mobilize resources for Ukraine on a large scale so that they are able to have what they need to succeed in this war.”
Jamie Dettmer, Paul McLeary and Nahal Toosi contributed to this report.
Matt Berg reported from Washington. Eli Stokols reported from Paris.
