Terrorists and tyrants must not win, I refuse to let that happen – Biden

US President Joe Biden has called on the Congress to show unity on the issue of aid to Ukraine and stressed that he refused "to let that happen", talking about the situation where support for Ukraine would be in jeopardy due to political strife in the US.

Source: Biden’s address to the American people on the evening of 19 October (at night on 20 October, Kyiv time). 

Details: Biden noted that he will submit an urgent budget request to the Congress to finance US national security needs, including funds to support Israel and Ukraine, and called it an investment that will benefit many generations of Americans.

"On Ukraine, I'm asking Congress to make sure we can continue to send Ukraine the weapons they need to defend themselves and their country without interruption. So Ukraine can stop Putin's brutality in Ukraine," the US president emphasised.

Biden noted that Ukraine has achieved great success, recalling that at the beginning, the Kremlin was counting on a successful "blitzkrieg", and instead, Ukraine, with the support of an allied coalition under the leadership of the United States, is now gradually reclaiming the occupied territories.

"What would happen if we walked away? We are the essential nation [in the process of helping Ukraine – ed.]. Meanwhile, Putin has turned to Iran and North Korea," the president said.

Biden emphasised that the key in the case of military aid to Ukraine is only weapons systems that are important for liberation and for protecting the country's rear from missile terror, but not participation of US troops.

Biden also emphasised that weapons are given to Ukraine from American warehouses, and the funds are used to replenish them with new American-made weapons.

"You know, just as in World War Two today, patriotic American workers are building the arsenal of democracy and serving the cause of freedom," Biden said.

The president shared a memory of a long trip to Kyiv in February 2023, when he was accompanied by only a small group of security guards and a few advisers.

"But when I exited that train and met Zelensky, President Zelenskyy, I didn’t feel alone. I was bringing with me the idea of America, the promise of America, to the people who are today fighting for the same things we fought for 250 years ago: freedom, independence, self-determination. And as I walked through Kyiv with President Zelensky, with air raid sirens sounding in the distance, I felt something I’ve always believed more strongly than ever before: America is a beacon to the world, still… [People] believe in a better life because of us," Biden said.

"I know we have our divisions at home. We have to get past them. We can’t let petty, partisan, angry politics get in the way of our responsibilities as a great nation. We cannot and will not let terrorists like Hamas and tyrants like Putin win. I refuse to let that happen," Biden emphasised.

"In moments like these, we have to remember who we are. We are the United States of America. The United States of America. And there is nothing, nothing beyond our capacity, if we do it together," the US president concluded.

Background:

• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy held a telephone conversation with US President Joe Biden on the evening of Thursday, 19 October.
• Meanwhile, the media discovered new details of the funding package that Biden planned to ask the Congress to allocate for Ukraine and Israel.

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