Biden announces more US aid for Ukraine
In pursuit of these objectives, Vice President Joe Biden announced today in Kyiv, Ukraine, that, pending consultation with Congress, the White House plans to commit approximately $190 million in new assistance to support Ukraine’s ambitious reform agenda.
Biden also made an indirect reference to reported infighting between Poroshenko and Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk that has stalled the passage of vital economic and anti-graft laws.
Ukraine and the West have accused Russian Federation of backing the rebels in eastern Ukraine with troops and weapons, accusations Moscow has denied.
The broad February deal struck in the Belarussian capital Minsk “cannot succeed if Russian Federation does not fulfil its commitments”, Biden said after talks in the Ukrainian capital with President Petro Poroshenko.
Russia, which has fomented unrest in Ukraine, “is using your corruption to undermine you”, Biden added.
The International Monetary Fund will change its lending rules to allow it to keep supporting countries if they fail to repay official creditors, a move that would help Ukraine if it misses payments on a $3 billion debt to Russian Federation.
The four lines are the only sources of electricity for Crimea, so when they came down the territory was plunged into darkness, according to the BBC’s David Stern in southern Ukraine.
Biden’s strong words, delivered to the parliament in Kyiv, show just how unhappy Washington is with Ukraine’s policies to date.
Biden said on Tuesday that Ukraine should do more to fight corruption or it will lose global support.
Ukrainian parliamentarians, known for spirited debates that sometimes devolve into fisticuffs, have been slow to pass a slew of bills that the US and the European Union say will help overhaul the country’s corrupt systems.
Joseph Biden stayed in Ukraine for only 36 hours instead of the planned two full days.
He also urged lawmakers to fight corruption, warning that the future of Ukraine is at stake. “You have to reform the whole prosecution and judiciary”. “Even as so much of the worldwide attention has shifted towards Russia’s involvement with Syria, we, the United States, haven’t forgotten about Ukraine; that Ukraine remains central to our national interests; and that the Vice President and President continue to believe that progress in Ukraine is essential for the ultimate aspiration we have for Europe of being whole, at peace, and free”, the official said during a conference call.
It also documented “enforced disappearance, arbitrary and incommunicado detention as well as torture and ill treatment of people” suspected of joining or supporting separatist militia, and noted the “high degree of impunity” enjoyed by elements of Ukraine’s security services in such cases.