Cameron warns US over blocked Ukraine aid

The Telegraph: Lord Cameron will warn that the US is risking the West’s security by holding up a new package of aid for Ukraine when he visits Washington DC next week.

During a face-to-face meeting, the Foreign Secretary will urge Mike Johnson, the House of Representatives speaker, to stop his Republican colleagues from continuing to block the support.

Earlier this year, the UK announced another £2.5 billion in aid to help Ukraine fight the Russian invasion, while the European Union has pledged a further €50 billion (£43 billion).

But Joe Biden’s $95 billion (£75 billion) Bill, which includes security assistance to Ukraine, is being blocked by the US president’s Republican opponents in the House of Representatives, one half of the US Congress.

Lord Cameron and Stéphane Séjourné, his French counterpart, issued a rallying cry to boost support for Ukraine in a Telegraph article marking Monday’s 120th anniversary of the Entente Cordiale alliance between the nations.

They wrote: “We are both absolutely clear – Ukraine must win this war. If Ukraine loses, we all lose. The costs of failing to support Ukraine now will be far greater than the costs of repelling Putin. But, as discussed during the Paris Conference in February, we must do even more to ensure we defeat Russia. The world is watching – and will judge us if we fail.”

They said “it is not for France and Britain alone to solve these challenges” and “we can rally others to join us in overcoming them”.

Foreign Office sources said that, during his visit to the US, Lord Cameron will echo a message posted on social media last week in which he said: “Britain’s put forward its money for Ukraine this year. So’s the European Union. America needs to do it. That is blocked in Congress.

“Speaker Johnson can make it happen in Congress. I’m going to go and see him next week and say we need that money, Ukraine needs that money. It is American security, it’s European security, it’s Britain’s security that is on the line in Ukraine, and they need our help.”

On Sunday, Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president, warned that his nation would lose unless Congress passed the military assistance package.

Mr Zelensky said: “It is necessary to specifically tell Congress that if Congress does not help Ukraine, Ukraine will lose the war. If Ukraine loses the war, other states will be attacked.”

Kyiv’s forces have been on the back foot since a large-scale offensive last year failed to achieve a major breakthrough.

On his previous Washington trip, Lord Cameron likened those blocking aid to the appeasers of Hitler in the 1930s – leading Marjorie Taylor Greene, a pro-Donald Trump Congress member, to tell him to “kiss my a--”.

The message could trigger fresh tensions with the Republican Party. Mr Trump, a sceptic on aid for Ukraine, is the party’s presidential nominee and could be back in the White House by next January.