US Assures That Supporting Ukraine Remains Top Priority
Janet Yellen, the United States Secretary of the Treasury, during a meeting with the heads of the financial ministries of the Eurozone countries, assured that the support of Ukraine remains a "top priority" for Washington against the background of the escalation of the Arab-Israeli conflict.
As Reuters reported, during her speech at a meeting of the Eurogroup, the finance ministers of EU member states that use euro, Yellen emphasised that Joe Biden's administration is ready to support Ukraine "as much as it takes" and will seek approval in the Congress for "strong" and continuous aid to Kyiv.
"We cannot allow Ukraine to lose the war for economic reasons, while it has demonstrated the ability to succeed on the battlefield," the United States Secretary of the Treasury said.
Yellen confirmed that the United States supports "the use of excess profits of Russian sovereign assets frozen in certain clearing institutions and the use of these funds to support Ukraine."
She also said the US and EU would continue to work to impose "increasing costs on Russia for waging its reckless war", including by capping Russian oil prices and combating sanctions evasion.
There are fears that attention to the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, as well as Western resources to support Kyiv, may decrease amid the escalation in the Middle East.
Yellen's statement appeared against the background of reports that the administration of the US president intends to ask the Congress to allocate more than two billion dollars to help Ukraine and Israel.
Earlier, it was reported that the White House was considering the possibility to combine the military aid for Ukraine and Israel in one request to the Congress, hoping it will increase chances for approval of the support for Kyiv.