The US must step up funding to
Ukraine to help it defeat
Russia and protect the security of the West, David Cameron will tell leading
American politicians. The Foreign Secretary is in
Washington for talks with his US counterpart and senior
Republicans who are seen as blocking a package of $60bn (£47bn) in additional aid for Kyiv. He is expected to argue that a defeat for Ukraine would make America less safe and undermine its efforts to secure its own borders. Lord Cameron will also emphasise that the
UK and other European powers have recently stepped up their own funding to Volodymyr Zelensky’s government amid a broader push to boost defence spending so that
NATO allies are not entirely dependent on the protection of the US, i understands. A senior Government source said: “It is critical for the US to hear the message from Europe and the UK about how much we are putting in to defence spending, and Ukraine as part of that. The US is leveraging more from European allies, and it is not just Europe free-riding off the US.” The Foreign Secretary will meet Anthony Blinken, the US
Secretary of State, on Tuesday and then hold talks with “key figures across Congress”, the Foreign Office said. He is expected to speak to Mike Johnson, the Speaker of the House of Representatives who is a close ally of
Donald Trump. Mr Johnson is currently deciding whether to allow a vote on the $60bn extra aid for Ukraine. Lord Cameron will say that US support for Kyiv is “the keystone in the arch” of the West’s efforts to support Mr Zelensky in the fight against Vladimir Putin’s aggression, according to the Foreign Office. Speaking ahead of his trip, the Foreign Secretary said: “Success for Ukraine and failure for Putin are vital for American and European security. This will show that borders matter, that aggression doesn’t pay and that countries like Ukraine are free to choose their own future. “The alternative would only encourage Putin in further attempts to re-draw European borders by force, and would be heard clearly in
Beijing, Tehran and
North Korea. “US support for Ukraine has massively degraded the
MILITARY capacity of a common adversary, Russia has lost half of its pre-invasion land combat power, and a quarter of its original Black Sea fleet, while creating jobs at home and strengthening the Western alliance and Nato.” The Foreign Office said: “While Ukraine continues to make gains against Russia, they are increasingly being overmatched by
Russian artillery on the battlefield, underlining the importance of agreeing further US support.” Rishi Sunak has repeatedly spoken to
Joe Biden about the need to continue backing Ukraine with cash and arms exports, even as the war in
Gaza diverts attention away from Mr Putin’s invasion. But the Republicans who control the House of Representatives have expressed ambivalent views on the conflict, and Mr Trump has insisted that if he is re-elected to the
White House he will be able to win the war by striking a deal between Ukraine and Russia.