President Biden said Tuesday that Ukraine’s surprise counter-invasion of Russia “presents a real dilemma” for Russian President Vladimir Putin – and that the American government is in “constant contact” with Kyiv.
Biden, 81, made his first substantive remarks on Ukraine’s astonishing battlefield successes during a conversation with reporters on the wing of Air Force One as he arrived in New Orleans to promote federal funding for cancer research.
“I’ve been talking to my staff regularly over the last six or eight days, probably every four or five hours, and that creates a real dilemma for Putin,” Biden said.
“And we are in direct, constant contact with the Ukrainians. That’s all I will say about it as long as it is active.”
Biden and most U.S. officials dodged earlier questions about the eight-day Ukrainian offensive in the Kursk region north of Kharkiv, which Russian authorities have struggled to contain amid increasing Ukrainian troop gains.
The invasion is said to be an attempt by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to gain an advantage ahead of possible peace talks. It also forced Putin to withdraw troops from Ukraine to Russia in order to protect their own territory.
US officials last week dodged press questions about the recent fighting, saying they were trying to find out more, but said the administration’s actions suggested there was no US disapproval.
On Friday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced $125 million in new U.S. military aid to Ukraine, including air defense systems, missiles, artillery ammunition and anti-tank weapons.
John Kirby, spokesman for the White House National Security Council, expressed reservations on Friday when asked about the counteroffensive.
“We are in contact with our Ukrainian counterparts and are working to better understand what they are doing, what their goals are and what their strategy is. I will give us a little space for those discussions before I try to describe what is going on,” Kirby said.
Biden had previously relaxed American restrictions on equipment donated to Ukraine. In May, Biden allowed Ukraine to use U.S. missiles for limited cross-border attacks on Russian air strike staging sites.
The incursion is a major embarrassment for Putin, who last year also struggled to contain a brazen cross-border insurgency led by mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin. Prigozhin accused the Kremlin of incompetence in leading Putin’s invasion of Ukraine since February 2022.
Ukraine’s counter-invasion of Russia comes at a time when the US presidential election on November 5 could change American policy in the conflict. Former President Donald Trump has promised to negotiate an end to the war before he takes office on January 20. Zelenskyy fears that this would mean tough concessions from Ukraine.
In April, Congress approved $60.8 billion in aid to Ukraine to fend off the Russian invasion – in addition to the $113 billion that had already been approved in the conflict. But Trump also complained about the amount of foreign aid paid out.
