Paris: US President Joe Biden on Friday publicly apologised to his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy for the months-long holdup in providing military assistance from the Congress that helped Russia make gains on the battlefield during the over two-year-long conflict. Biden assured Zelenskyy that the United States stands with Ukraine in this critical moment when Kyiv’s forces are struggling to fend off Russia’s better equipped troops.
Speaking in Paris, where Biden and Zelenskyy both attended ceremonies marking the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings during World War II, the US President said, “You continue to fight in a way that is just remarkable. It’s remarkable. And we’re not going to walk away from you. I apologize for those weeks of not knowing what’s going on in terms of funding. And because we had trouble getting the bill that we had to pass… had the money in it, from some of our very conservative members who were holding it up. But we got it done finally. Since then, including today, I’ve announced six packages of significant funding.”