Ukraine’s forces “can win this war” if the United States and other Western powers provide the necessary funding and weaponry to fend off Russia’s invasion, according to the United Kingdom’s top diplomat, David Cameron.
“We know that if we give the Ukrainians the support they deserve, they can win this war,” Cameron, the British Foreign Secretary told reporters at the State Department. “They can achieve the just peace that they deserve.”
Cameron outlined a range of initiatives that could support the larger war effort, including an intent to give Ukraine “money in the form of the frozen Russian sovereign assets.” His discussions of that matter with Secretary of State Antony Blinken stood as just one component of his trip to the United States, as British officials scramble to tip the balance in a standoff between President Joe Biden and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), who faces the risk of a mutiny just months after taking over from his ousted predecessor.
“It’s profoundly in your interest, your security, and your future, and the future of all your partners, to release this money and let it through,” Cameron said. “We know it’s right to send this very clear message to all those watching around the world, including China, that we stand by our allies, that we don’t reward aggression, that we help those who are trying to fight it off. And we know it’s right for our own security.”
Blinken echoed that argument and emphasized that much of the funding to aid Ukraine would flow to U.S. defense companies.
“The supplemental budget request that President Biden has made of Congress is urgent and its imperative,” Blinken said. “The overwhelming majority of the resources in the supplemental budget request will actually be invested right here in the United States, in our own defense industrial base to produce what Ukraine needs, but providing in the meantime good American jobs.”
Ukrainian forces have struggled against worsening odds throughout the spring, as the lapse in U.S. aid contributed to an ammunition shortage that has given Russia significant advantages at the front lines. Those difficulties have stoked Western fears that Ukrainian forces will “have to retreat” substantially in the face of Russia’s redoubled offensive, but an Estonian military official sought to temper those misgivings this week.
“The front line is still stuck near Avdiivka,” Estonian Lt. Col. Toomas Väli said Sunday. “That said, the Russians are keeping up the pressure and pace on the Luhansk and Donetsk headings and are likely looking to push to the borders of the Donetsk Oblast. Their success so far has been marginal and there have not been major breakthroughs.”
Cameron met with Trump on Monday evening, in what he characterized as a “private meeting” with Biden’s rival in the 2024 elections. Trump’s team gave little indication that Cameron had succeeded in garnering his support.
“Among the topics discussed were the upcoming U.S. and U.K. elections, policy matters specific to Brexit, the need for NATO countries to meet their defense spending requirements, and ending the killing in Ukraine,” Trump campaign officials said of the discussion.
Cameron gave an impassioned preview of the case that he will make in a series of dialogues with congressional Republicans and Democrats as his diplomatic tour continues across Capitol Hill.
“Instead of sort of speaking in diplo-speak, when I address this issue of how we help Ukraine, I can get very emotional about it,” Cameron said. “I do love the United States. I feel passionate about this country — its role in the world in defending freedom and standing up to aggression … So when I go an speak with colleagues in Congress, I try and keep the diplomatic language, but sometimes it spills over into quite emotional language because this is the right thing to do.”
Cameron is no stranger to undiplomatic language from Capitol Hill. When he wrote an opinion column about Ukraine aid for a Washington-based media outlet, Rep. Marjorie Taylor-Greene (R-GA) responded that “he can kiss my a**.” Greene sent an even more forceful message to Johnson in recent days, in the form of a “motion to vacate” that raises the specter of a vote over whether he should be retained as speaker.
“Mike Johnson is publicly saying funding Ukraine is now his top priority when less than 7 months ago he was against it,” she wrote in a letter outlining her case for his ouster. “This has been a complete and total surrender to, if not complete and total lockstep with, the Democrats’ agenda that has angered our Republican base so much and given them very little reason to vote for a Republican House majority.”
A strong bipartisan majority of House lawmakers would back supplemental funding for Ukraine if Johnson were to allow a vote on the legislation that passed the Senate, but the Louisiana Republican has faced a threat of rebellion from Greene and her allies if he does so. With only a one-vote majority in the House, Johnson has a minuscule margin for Republican defections before his continuance as speaker would depend on Democratic votes.
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House Democrats refused to help former Speaker Kevin McCarthy quell a backbench mutiny last year, but they might change tactics if Johnson allows a vote on the funding for Ukraine. Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY), the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, predicted that Johnson would survive such a vote.
“I think so, in talking to some of my colleagues on the Republican side, and even some on the Democratic side,” Meeks said Tuesday. “As long as we are able to put the supplemental on the floor and vote to make sure that Ukraine gets the resources that it needs, he should not be removed for that. In my estimation, I don’t think he will.”