Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky met with US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Jim McGovern, Gregory Meeks and Adam Schiff on April 30 in Kyiv, Ukraine. (Press Office of the President of Ukraine / Getty Images)
Adam Schiff, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, spoke in detail about the approximately three-hour discussion between members of the congressional delegation in Kyiv and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday, saying he thought it was “only a matter of time”. US President Joe Biden to visit Ukraine.
I have to think that the presidential visit is something that is being considered, but it is only a question of how soon it will be possible, “Schiff told CNN’s Jim Acosta. Schiff noted that the delegation did not discuss the conversation with Biden on Sunday.
Schiff said the meeting with Zelensky focused on his priorities for further aid, especially as Ukrainians enter a new phase of the war with more concentrated fighting in the east. Subsequently, members of the delegation passed on information to Biden about the conversation, Schiff said, and made recommendations to the president.
Asked what Zelensky thought about the $ 33 billion bid Biden asked for in his additional request for assistance to Ukraine to Congress, Schiff said: “It’s his job to say that nothing is enough and, you know, we understand that, we respect this. However, I think he is very grateful for what we are doing. “
“We wanted to discuss with him, within this really huge amount, what the priority is in terms of what weapons he needs, what other help he needs,” Schiff said. “We went through a detailed discussion of the next phase of the war. It is moving from a phase in which the Ukrainians ambushed Russian tanks – it was a close battle – to more long-range battles using long-range artillery, and this changes the nature of what Ukraine needs to defend itself.
Schiff said they discussed various issues, including ensuring that he receives the necessary military equipment and receives it quickly. They discussed the humanitarian crisis, refugees, war crimes, and he said, “I wanted to make sure, as chairman of intelligence, that he was getting the intelligence he needed.”
Schiff said that the members of the delegation wanted to send a message to Zelensky in support of the meeting, because: “If Russia manages to get away with this, this naked aggression, this invasion of their neighbor, you know what makes us think that you will stop with Ukraine. “
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