– We would not have survived without help from the United States. Those are the facts, said Volodymyr Zelenskyj in an interview last week. Ukraine’s president is trying to establish long-term agreements with over 30 countries. But there is no doubt which individual country is the most important supporter (see graphic further down in the case). Zelenskyj visited the White House before Christmas, but a new aid package has many opponents, especially among Republicans. Therefore, stricter control of the border with Mexico has become a piece in the game of a new Ukraine package. – There are such packages and horse trades that often happen. The Republicans get a victory in one case, and the Democrats in the other, says author and journalist in Minerva, Jan Arild Snoen. Migrants make their way through a hole in the fence on the border between Mexico and the United States at Lukeville, Arizona in December. Photo: REBECCA NOBLE / Reuters Stoltenberg in the USA This week, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg is in the USA to ask Congress to renew aid to Ukraine. On Tuesday, Stoltenberg will meet the American elected officials with a message that support for Ukraine is in our common security interest. STOLTENBERG: – The world becomes more vulnerable if Putin gets what he wants in Ukraine. Photo: Manuel Balce Ceneta / AP – It will be a tragedy for Ukraine if Putin wins, but it will also make the world more dangerous and make us all more insecure. It will give authoritarian leaders new courage to use force – not only Putin, but also North Korea, China and Iran, says Stoltenberg in Washington. Must make Ukraine support bipartisan Researcher at Nupi, Karsten Friis, tells news that the NATO chief must work to decouple the Ukraine issue from the election. – This is not about Biden vs. Republicans. Stoltenberg must show that all Americans benefit from Ukraine receiving American support. Support for Ukraine among American politicians is broad, says researcher at Nupi, Karsten Friis. Photo: Dan Henrik Klausen He goes on to say that it is important to avoid a politicization of support for Ukraine, because basically there is broad support for Ukraine among both Republicans and Democrats. – It is an election campaign. And everything Biden is for, you are happy to be against if you are a Republican. This also applies to Ukraine, he says and points out that it will therefore be more difficult to find solutions in Congress. Games in Congress Republicans in Congress have so far refused to approve new aid packages for Ukraine until there is agreement on new security measures along the border with Mexico. Now a proposal for an agreement will be ready in a cross-party group in the Senate. President Biden refers to the agreement as tough and fair. – It will give me, as president, a new emergency authority to close the border when it overflows. If I get that authority, I will use it the same day I sign the bill, says Biden, according to CNN. The Democrats are traditionally more liberal on immigration than the Republicans. Joe Biden and Volodymyr Zelenskyj at the White House on December 12. Photo: CHIP SOMODEVILLA / AFP The negotiations on the agreement have been going on for months. – There are actually four things that are connected. There is border security between the US and Mexico on the one hand and support packages for Ukraine, Taiwan and Israel. But Ukraine is the largest and the most sensitive, says Snoen. Quadrupling of border crossings The number entering the United States from Mexico is becoming unmanageable. – There has been a quadrupling of the number since Trump was president, says Snoen. – Is it because of Biden’s politics, or other reasons? – It is made up of several things. There is a good job market in the US. It’s also about how you talk about it, and the rhetoric is completely different from Trump to Biden. – In recent years, we have also seen that asylum seekers from all over the world come to the United States, not just from Central America. People from Russia and China travel to Mexico to enter the United States. It’s new, Snoen replies. More migrants from countries such as China, India and Russia are now crossing the border from Mexico to the United States, such as these children who stopped in Texas, after crossing the border river Rio Grande last April. Photo: STAFF / Reuters It is expected that the proposed agreement will be published next week. Trump has said Republicans should not accept any deal unless it has everything needed to stop border crossings. – Will these agreements go through? – It is hard to say. There is actually a majority in both the Senate and Congress for it, but it is a matter of tactics. Trump is against this, because he benefits from the problems persisting. But that tactic has been exposed. The question is how many Republicans are willing to defy him, says Snoen. Need long-term agreement Ukraine’s announced counter-offensive last year was unsuccessful. It has been difficult to win back areas, and the strategy has now shifted to beating back Russian attacks while building up the military for a protracted war, writes the Washington Post. – Right now it seems that we get less than last year, when we tried a counter-offensive, and it didn’t work. If we get even less, it is clear that the plan will be defensive, says Ukrainian politician Roman Kostenko. At some point, the war will end with negotiations. But Putin will probably not want to start these this year. He hopes Trump will win the election, and that this will lead to support for Ukraine being cut off, politicians the Washington Post has spoken to believe. Trump has stated that he can stop the war in one day if he returns to the White House. Zelenskyj said that claim is “very dangerous” and invited Trump to Kyiv to share the plans.
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Wants border measures in exchange for Ukraine package – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
