President Biden convened a call with world leaders on Tuesday morning to reassure them about the US’ ongoing commitment to supporting Ukraine in its war with Russia, White House officials said.
Biden spoke with 11 leaders, including the prime ministers of Canada, Italy, Japan, and the UK, and the presidents of Poland and Romania. The chancellor of Germany and the foreign minister of France also joined the call, along with the leaders of the European Commission, the European Council and Nato. The White House did not provide details of the call. But a senior administration official had said on Monday that the president was expected to call his counterparts in the aftermath of congressional passage of a 45-day stopgap spending bill that did not include new funding for Ukraine.
Biden, his top aides and congressional Democrats and Republicans have said they are confident that further financial commitments would be agreed to in a final spending bill, but the failure to do so when the House and Senate passed the bill over the weekend highlighted the decreasing willingness of some Republicans to fund Kyiv’s war effort.
“There is a bipartisan support for this from the beginning,” Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary said. If Congress were to refuse to appropriate more money for Ukraine, it could severely restrict the flow of weapons to the battlefield, which has helped repel Russian forces. Administration officials have said they can continue to send weapons with existing funds, but not for long.