End Of US Aid To Ukraine A 'gift To Putin,' Warns Clinton, Experts

New York, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 9th Feb, 2024) Ending aid to Ukraine would mark a rupture of US leadership and a fracturing of NATO, warned experts including former secretary of state Hillary Clinton who raised the alarm over Donald Trump's possible reelection.

She was speaking in New York at a gathering to map out Ukraine's future after two years at war with Russia.

"This is a decisive time not just for Ukraine, but for the West or NATO," Clinton told the audience Wednesday at Columbia University, where she became a lecturer after losing the 2016 presidential election to Trump.

Clinton's time as Washington's chief diplomat from 2009 to 2013 coincided with a marked souring of US-Russia relations.

"How we respond or fail to respond will immeasurably impact the state of the 21st century global order," she said.

Washington is Kyiv's main military backer, with over $110 billion already released by Congress -- but the world's leading power has failed for months to vote new funds for Ukraine.

Amid internal bickering between Republican lawmakers, over whom Trump holds sway, and a tug-of-war with President Joe Biden's Democrats, Congress again postponed a vote on aid to Kyiv and Washington's leading middle East ally Israel.

But on Thursday in a surprise, the US Senate voted to move forward with the aid package, as several Republicans joined Democrats in agreeing to open debate.

Even if the bill passes the Senate, it remained unclear whether there is sufficient backing in the Republican-controlled House to get it to Biden's desk.

Clinton, an advocate of US engagement overseas, said it was "shameful that aid to Ukraine continues to be held up in Congress because of petty politics."

The former first lady and ex-senator made an impassioned plea that "we can't let the aggression by Russia and the suffering of Ukrainians go unnoticed and without response."