WASHINGTON, Jan 9 Joe Biden's Administration Doesn't Expect Joe Biden that the cuts in defense spending planned by the US House of Representatives will affect military assistance to Ukraine, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said at a briefing for reporters.
«We asked for $37 billion (military aid to Ukraine — ed.) because we thought last year that this would be needed for the fiscal year. Congress increased that amount to $45 billion. That money was allocated,» he said.
According to Sullivan, the White House has already begun to rely on the allocated amount and he «does not see how this money can be taken away» by reducing the amount of resources to support Ukraine. Sullivan also expressed confidence that a «minority» of lawmakers in the new Congress is not in a position to jeopardize the continuation of US assistance to Ukraine.
«I believe that the majority of Democrats and Republicans have been elected and the majority of American citizens continue to strongly support the policy of giving Ukraine the means to defend itself against Russia,» he said.
Earlier, Russia sent a note to NATO countries over arms supplies to Ukraine. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov noted that any cargo that contains weapons for Ukraine will become a legitimate target for Russia. The Foreign Ministry of the Russian Federation stated that the NATO countries are «playing with fire» by supplying weapons to Ukraine. Press Secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov noted that pumping Ukraine with weapons from the West does not contribute to the success of Russian-Ukrainian negotiations and will have a negative effect.