WASHINGTON, June 19. The United States has prepared contingency funds to help Ukraine in case of a possible escalation at its national border with Russia, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement. “The idea that we have held back security assistance to Ukraine is nonsense,” the statement from Psaki reads. “Just last week – in the run-up to the US-Russia Summit – we provided a $150 million package of security assistance, including lethal assistance.”
“We have now provided the entire amount appropriated by Congress through the Ukraine security assistance initiative,” she continued. “We have also prepared contingency funds in the event of a further Russian incursion into Ukraine,” according to the statement.
“As President [Joe] Biden told President [Vladimir] Putin directly, we will stand unwavering in support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Psaki added in her statement.
The summit between Presidents Vladimir Putin of Russia and Joe Biden of the United States took place at the Villa La Grange in Geneva on June 16.
Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the Ekho Moskvy radio station on Thursday that the Russian troop movements near the Ukrainian border were mentioned at the summit of Russian and US presidents in Geneva but no accusations were ever made at the highest level.
US-based daily Politico reported earlier that “The Biden White House has temporarily halted a military aid package to Ukraine that would include lethal weapons, a plan originally made in response to aggressive Russian troop movements along Ukraine’s border this spring. The aid package would be worth up to $100 million, according to four people familiar with internal deliberations.”.
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