Biden in talks with Zelensky announced the allocation of $ 60 million for the defense of Ukraine

US President Joe Biden, during talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House, announced the allocation of $ 60 million. This money will be used to strengthen Ukraine’s defenses.

Video footage of the start of the meeting of the presidents, in which Biden promised this financial assistance, published on the Fox News Facebook page.

Earlier, a spokeswoman for the US administration said that the $ 60 million aid package would include defensive weapons of destruction. In particular, Ukraine will receive additional Javelin anti-tank systems. The US administration clarified that since 2014, the United States has already allocated $ 2.5 billion to Ukraine, writes Kommersant. And Ukraine will receive another $ 3 billion after signing a memorandum of understanding. It will be signed by the US Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im Bank) and the Ministry of Economic Development, Trade and Agriculture of Ukraine.

The US President, during a meeting with Zelensky, confirmed that he will continue to support Ukraine, informs UNIAN. “The United States remains strongly committed to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine in the face of Russian aggression and our support for Ukraine’s Euro-Atlantic aspirations,” Joe Biden said.

Also, the US President said that he would discuss at the meeting issues related to the promotion of democratic reforms in Ukraine and its integration with Europe.

“We are revitalizing the Strategic Partnership Commission between our countries, and we are also creating a new strategic defense framework with a new $ 60 million security assistance package,” the US President said.

The US and Ukraine are launching a new strategic energy and climate dialogue to help Ukraine diversify energy supplies while supporting climate targets related to global warming, he said.

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy, at a meeting with Joe Biden, said that he gave his team a list of “all captured Ukrainians” of 450 people, and asked for help in their release.

“We have prepared these lists of people who are in the temporarily occupied territories of Donbass, in the temporarily occupied Crimea, in Russia. And there are about 450 of them, ”Zelensky said, addressing Biden. He also addressed the question of “what kind of assistance can the United States provide” in this context, transfers TASS.

The issue of the exchange of persons held by the parties to the conflict in Donbass is one of the main points of the Minsk agreements. According to the document, the exchange must be carried out according to the “all for all” formula. Adherence to this principle of exchange was confirmed at the Normandy format summit (France, Germany, Russia and Ukraine) held in Paris in early December 2019, after which the first large-scale exchange of prisoners in two years between the self-proclaimed DPR, LPR and Ukraine took place on December 29: pro-Russian the republics of Donbass transferred 76 people, Kiev returned 124. Another exchange between Kiev and the republics of Donbass took place on April 16, 2020, during which Kiev transferred the DPR and LPR 14 people and received 20. However, the task of exchanging “everyone for everyone” remains unresolved.

On August 31, Vladimir Zelensky began his working visit to Washington. During the visit, it is planned to sign three documents: on defense partnership, projects in the field of research and testing, as well as on cooperation in the space sector.