Biden says he has signed $200m emergency aid drawdown as he meets Zelenskiy in Oval Office Zelenskiy gave reasonably lengthy comments about his time in Washington, thanking everyone who had met with him so far. “People need to be confident that freedom is secure,” he concluded. Biden, who told Zelenskiy not to give up hope in the fight against Russia and said Congress should provide additional aid, told reporters to quiet down, then said he had just signed “another $200m drawdown from the department of defense for Ukraine”. Here’s how the state department website defines a drawdown: The use of the Presidential Drawdown Authority to direct a drawdown to provide military assistance under section 506(a)(1) of the Foreign Assistance Act (FAA) is a valuable tool of US foreign policy in crisis situations. It allows for the speedy delivery of defense articles and services from Department of Defense stocks to foreign countries and international organizations to respond to unforeseen emergencies. Such assistance can begin arriving within days – or even hours – of approval. Summary It’s summary time, before we close this blog about Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s day in Washington DC. What did we learn from the Ukrainian president’s press conference with Joe Biden? Not too much. Zelenskiy and Biden reiterated their belief that the US should pass a significant supplemental aid package for Ukraine in its war with Russia, but acknowledged that Republicans on Capitol Hill are holding that process up as they seek concessions from Biden and Democrats on immigration policy and particularly the southern border. That, of course, was the position coming into the press conference, after Zelenskiy went to the Hill and met senators and the House speaker, Mike Johnson. Biden has ordered $200m in aid from the Pentagon via a “drawdown”, a process to provide ammunition, missiles and more swiftly to allies in need. Neither leader was drawn into making dire predictions about what a second term for Donald Trump might mean for Ukraine. Biden, of course, had no good news for Zelenskiy on membership of Nato. But the US president did get off a zinger, of a sort, when he highlighted praise for Republicans by a Russian TV host and said: “If you’re being celebrated by Russian propagandists, it might be time to rethink what you’re doing. History … will judge harshly.” And with that, goodnight. A Ukrainian reporter asks about Nato: what does Zelenskiy expect from the Washington summit next year and does he hope for membership and does Biden support such membership? Zelenskiy: “I will answer very quickly on this very complicated question. We are allies but we are not members of Nato. So I will pass this very complicated question to our big friend, President Biden.” Laughter. Biden: “Nato will be in Ukraine’s future, no question … but conditions have to be met and right now we want to be sure they win the war.” Biden then says, “Thank you all very much”, which begins the shouting of extra questions as the two leaders take their leave from the room. Zelenskiy gives a strong response to a question about the notion of giving up territory to achieve peace with Moscow. Biden says Ukraine is a sovereign, independent nation and that it deterring aggression remains the US aim. Both are asked whether they believe a second term for Donald Trump would mean the end of an independent Ukraine. Biden says there is strong bipartisan support for Ukraine and a small minority of Republicans who do not back it, but he says they do not speak for their party. It would send a “horrible” message if we walked away at this time, he says … so, an answer without a mention of the subject of the question, Donald Trump. Biden is asked about Israel and Hamas next, about when the US will think or perhaps say the Israelis have gone far enough in their response to the attacks of 7 October. He doesn’t say when. Zelenskiy says he has been speaking to Democrats and Republicans and that they offered ful-fledged support. “We will see, but until now we’ve always been trusting of our strategic partner, the United States,” he adds. Biden invites the first question. It is about stalled advances and blocked aide: what is the strategy to turn this around, and if that fails, what is the right time to tell Ukraine it’s time for peace talks? Biden starts by rehashing previous statements about how well Ukraine is doing against Russia and how much support Ukraine’s allies have given. The best way to keep doing this is to “pass the supplemental” funding bill, he says, to no one’s surprise. Zelenskiy answers in Ukrainian, having delivered his opening statement in English. He also rehashes remarks about successes in the field. From Mike Johnson, the House speaker, and other Republicans in Congress, Zelenskiy says, he “got this signal … they were positive but we know that we have two separate worlds and particular goals”. Biden continues, saying he has asked Congress for more aid for Israel too, and says Jake Sullivan, his national security adviser, is on his way to the region, as is Lloyd Austin, the secretary of defense. He ends by thanking Zelenskiy again. Zelenskiy speaks in English, thanking Biden in return and saying Ukraine is fighting for “our freedom and yours”, a motto he says resonates in Poland, the Baltic states and other countries. “When freedom is strong in one country, it is strong everywhere,” he says. Biden stands next to him, in front of US and Ukrainian flags, seeming to take notes on the podium before him. Zelenskiy says he and Biden discussed how to “increase our strength for next year”, including a bid for control of the skies. He eventually says he informed Biden of the progress of moves towards Ukrainian membership of the European Union, and stresses the importance of sending “a strong signal of unity to the aggressor”. And we begin, Joe Biden opening with remarks in praise of Volodymyr Zelenskiy for “an enormous victory already” over Russia and Vladimir Putin, in “standing strong” against the invasion. Ukraine will prevail “unless we walk away”, Biden says. Biden goes on to warn about failing to pass supplementary funding through Congress, saying “It’s stunning that we’ve got to this point” with funding held up by Republicans seeking immigration reform. “Russia and loyalists in Moscow celebrated when Republicans voted to block Ukraine to aid last week,” Biden says. “The host of a Kremlin-run show literally said, and I quote, ‘Well done, Republicans. That’s good for us.’” Biden repeats the line, adding: “If you’re being celebrated by Russia propagandists, it might be time to rethink what you’re doing. History … will judge harshly.” Here’s the White House livestream link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxAnSckZ34w. It is not yet livestreaming from a press conference that was meant to start at 4.15pm ET. This is, of course, not surprising. I may or may not therefore be spending my time reading up on why John Adams hasn’t got a DC monument yet. Here, meanwhile, is an interesting post, about Zelenskiy’s meeting with senators, from Lisa Desjardins of PBS: We’re waiting now for Biden and Zelenskiy to face the press. Our Washington bureau chief, David Smith, is in the room. The room, as it happens, (and thus also David), is not actually in the White House itself, but instead in the Eisenhower executive office building, just to the west of the executive mansion but part of its larger campus. The White House itself says “the reason for the room’s name is a mystery. It is not clear where it originated, despite extensive research. Some believe it was due to the fact that during the 1930s the war department stored papers there, including treaties with the American Indian nations. But this is not true, as the state department used it for storage until the 1940s after the Navy Library moved out.” Dan Sabbagh, the Guardian’s defense and security editor, filed a report on Zelenskiy’s Washington visit before the Ukrainian president’s trip to the White House. It begins: Volodymyr Zelenskiy has struggled to persuade US Republicans to support a $61bn military aid package for Ukraine on a trip to Washington DC, with objectors insisting on White House concessions on border security as a condition for a deal. The Ukrainian president addressed members of the Senate in a closed 90-minute meeting on Tuesday morning, but afterwards key Republicans repeated that they wanted to see a crackdown on immigration between the US and Mexico in return for supporting the package. Lindsey Graham, a senator for South Carolina, told reporters he told Zelenskiy the problem was “nothing to do with you”. He added: “I said: ‘You’ve done everything anybody could ask of you. This is not your problem here.’” Graham went on to accuse the White House of failing to tackle the southern border issue and called for Joe Biden to become personally involved in negotiations. Senate Republicans last week blocked an emergency aid package primarily for Ukraine and Israel after conservatives complained at the exclusion of immigration policy changes they demanded. Zelenskiy sought to reassure senators concerned about whether US military aid would be wasted because of corruption, Mike Rounds, a Republican from South Dakota, told CNN, and that Ukraine needed more air defence systems to support counteroffensives. Senior Democrats expressed frustration. Chuck Schumer, the Democratic Senate leader, said “The one person happiest right now about the gridlock in Congress is Vladimir Putin. He is delighting in the fact that Donald Trump’s border policies are sabotaging military aid to Ukraine.” The Associated Press has a few details about the $200m Department of Defense drawdown Biden mentioned in the Oval Office earlier: The roughly $200m in weapons and equipment will be taken from Pentagon stocks and include additional ammunition for the High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS), high-speed anti-radiation missiles, anti-armor systems, artillery rounds, missiles, demolition munitions, 4 million rounds of small arms ammunition, generators and other equipment and spare parts, one official said. Including that latest package, the US now has about $4.4 billion remaining in weapons it can provide from department stockpiles. Here’s the White House pool readout on the Oval Office meeting and spray between Biden and Zelenskiy just now. As the pooler, Daniel Bush of Newsweek, advises, all quotes should ultimately be checked against the later transcript: Pool was led into the Oval Office at 2.31pm. President Biden and President Zelenskiy … were seated in front of the fireplace. Biden spoke first. ‘We stand at a real inflection point in history,’ he said. ‘Congress needs to pass the supplemental funds’ to provide more aid to Ukraine, he said. Biden also warned that Vladimir Putin was planning to bombard Ukraine’s electrical grid this winter. ‘We mustn’t let him succeed,’ he said. Zelenskiy thank[ed] America and other allies for supporting Ukraine. ‘Ukraine can win,’ Zelenskiy said. Zelenskiy said he wanted to strengthen Ukraine’s air defense system. As the pool was asked to leave, Biden said he had signed ‘another $200m drawdown’ for aid to Ukraine. Pool was ushered out of the Oval at 2.37pm. Today’s foreign pooler, Juliane Schäuble, Washington DC correspondent for Der Tagesspiegel, adds that Zelenskiy spoke for about three minutes, in English, saying, “We have specifically defeated Russia in the Black Sea,” and saying the IMF and the World Bank were “impressed with Ukraine’s economy growth, almost 5%”. Then he said: “We also have to walk faster with the frozen Russian assets – over $300bn frozen assets from terrorists and we should use it to protect against Russians war.” Both poolers offer a list of participants in the bilateral meeting that is now taking place, before the two presidents face the press later: US delegation The president Antony Blinken, secretary of state Lloyd Austin, secretary of defense Jake Sullivan, assistant to the president for national security affairs Gen Charles Q Brown Jr, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff Bridget Brink, ambassador of the United States to Ukraine Ukraine delegation The president Andriy Yermak, head of the office of the president of Ukraine Oksana Markarova, ambassador of Ukraine to the United States Oleksandr Kamyshin, minister of strategic industries of Ukraine Roman Mashovets, deputy head of the office of the president of Ukraine, chief military advisor Igor Zhovkva, deputy head of the office of the president of Ukraine About Joe Biden’s belief that Congress should provide additional aid … … as Reuters reports, Mitch McConnell, the Senate minority leader, didn’t have cheering news for the president when reporters managed briefly to collar him on Capitol Hill just now: Republican leader Mitch McConnell said it would be ‘practically impossible’ for Congress to pass a supplemental funding package including aid for Ukraine before Christmas. McConnell told reporters that a deal will not happen until Joe Biden reaches agreement with Republicans, who want to link funding for Ukraine to new border security measures.