US President Joe Biden has offered an apology to his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy for delays in US military aid to fight Russian aggression.
The two leaders met in Paris on Friday on the sidelines of events commemorating the 80th anniversary of D-Day.
Biden said US Congress “had trouble getting the bill” because the “most conservative” Republicans were “holding up” the measure.
He stressed that Americans are still “standing with” the Ukrainian people and praised their resilience in the face of Russian aggression. The US is by far Ukraine’s biggest supplier of wartime support.
Biden used the occasion to announce his sixth aid package. It is for an additional 225 million dollars that includes air-defense and artillery systems, along with anti-tank weapons.
Zelenskyy offered Biden his thanks and appealed for bipartisan US support.
He said it is very important that “all American people stay with Ukraine, like it was during World War Two,” when the US helped to save human lives and Europe.
Biden and Zelenskyy will meet again at a summit of the Group of Seven nations next week in Italy. Leaders are expected to discuss ways to use frozen Russian assets to provide more funds for Ukraine.