US President Joe Biden has described the Senate Republicans' blocking of new aid to Ukraine as political blackmail.
In a post in X, he wrote that the stakes are too high and the consequences will be too significant for a political "brinkmanship". This refers to a bill for over $105 billion (requested by the Biden administration back in October) to provide security assistance not only to Ukraine but also to Israel, as well as to internal US border funding issues.
"Republicans in Congress are threatening to cut off support for Ukraine if they cannot force their extreme partisan border policy. This is political blackmail, pure and simple," he said.
Yesterday, the bill failed to reach the 60 votes needed for consideration. 45 senators voted in favour and 48 against (there are 100 senators in the US).