Under the threat of a presidential veto and a suspension of the government’s work, the White House made the Democrats abandon the wording that would immediately provide military assistance to Ukraine, the Washington Post reported citing representatives of Congress and the presidential administration.
On Friday, the US President Donald Trump signed a defense budget of $ 738 billion for 2020, which includes funds for “countering Russia”, sanctions against Nord Stream-2 and military assistance to Ukraine.
According to the sources of the publication, the issue of allocating military assistance to Ukraine was one of the few points in relation to which the White House took a tough stance during the discussion of the budget. If the original wording were adopted, the White House would have to allocate $ 250 million to Kiev within 45 days from the date the President signed the budget. As a result of the discussions, the Democrats abandoned this formulation.
According to the publication, earlier this year the White House refused to allocate military assistance to Ukraine at a time when, according to the Democrats, Trump delayed Congressional support for Ukraine, demanding in exchange for political services from President Vladimir Zelensky in the form of an investigation against Trump’s opponent Joe Biden. Trump claims that he demanded that the Ukrainian authorities only fight corruption.