President Joe Biden said Thursday that the United States will “stick with Ukraine to make sure they are not defeated by Russia.”
Biden refused to place any limits on U.S. assistance to Ukraine while speaking with reporters at a NATO Summit press conference in Madrid, Spain. The U.S. has given more than $6.1 billion to Ukraine since Russia’s February 24 invasion, and the president said the U.S. will provide an additional $800 million in assistance soon.
“We are going to support Ukraine as long as it takes,” Biden told reporters when asked about the future of the United States’ commitment to Ukraine. The president pointed to the drain that the war is having on Russia.
“They’ve had to renege on their national debt for the first time since the beginning, in almost well over a hundred years. They’ve lost 15 years of the gains they’ve made in terms of their economy,” Biden said. “They’re going to have trouble maintaining oil production because they don’t have the technology to do it. They need American technology. They’re also in a similar satiation in terms of their weapons systems and some of their military systems. So they’re paying a very, very heavy price for this.”
“I don’t know how it’s going to end but it will not end, but it will not end with a Russian defeat of Ukraine in Ukraine,” Biden added.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky addressed the G7 on Monday and reportedly told the countries’ leaders that he needed their economic and military support to hopefully end the war by winter.
Russia has focused its military campaign in Ukraine’s Donbas region on the eastern edge of the country. Russia has pounded the region with artillery as Ukraine’s military has been hard-pressed to keep Russian forces at bay.
In a recent victory, Ukraine retook Snake Island in the Black Sea after Russian forces retreated from the island and concentrates its military efforts in the Donbas. Both sides confirmed the retreat on Thursday, according to The New York Times.
Zelensky has continued to rally support from NATO nations and the West by claiming that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine will be a precursor to a wider invasion of Europe if Ukraine should fall. NATO said earlier this week that it is relocating forces to bolster security on its eastern borders nearest Russia.