How the Ukraine-Russia conflict will be handled is apparently going to be a focus of the upcoming White House lunch meeting between President-elect Donald Trump and President Joe Biden.
The two are scheduled to dine at 11 a.m. on Wednesday at the White House. On Sunday’s “Face the Nation,” national security advisor Jake Sullivan told host Margaret Brennan that the current administration remains firmly behind Ukraine. Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance, meanwhile, have criticized the Biden administration for spending billions on military aid.
“The president will have the chance to explain to President Trump how he sees things, where they stand and talk to President Trump about how President Trump is thinking about taking on these issues when he takes office,” Sullivan began.
He said the current administration’s role will continue to “put Ukraine in the strongest possible position on the battlefield, so that it is ultimately in the strongest possible position at the negotiating table. And it should be up to Ukraine to decide, for its own sovereignty and its own territorial integrity, when and how it goes to the negotiating table.”
Watch the segment below:
President Biden will have the remainder of his term to make the case to Congress and President-elect Trump's incoming administration "that the United States should not walk away from Ukraine," says @JakeSullivan46.
— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) November 10, 2024
When asked whether that includes asking Congress to pass… pic.twitter.com/fYyUvENYjJ
That means stepping up the pace of aid distribution, Sullivan said, so that “by Jan. 20, we will have sent the full amount of resources and aid to Ukraine the Congress has authorized. And of course, President Biden will have the opportunity over the next 70 days to make the case to the Congress and to the incoming administration that the United States should not walk away from Ukraine, that walking away from Ukraine means more instability in Europe.”
Sullivan indicated Biden will ask for more Ukraine funding from Congress.
“President Biden will make the case that we do need ongoing resources for Ukraine beyond the end of his term, because the threat to Ukraine will remain no matter what exactly happens on the battlefield or at the negotiating table, and the United States should not walk away from its commitment, either to Ukraine or to 50 nations that we have rallied in defense of Ukraine in both Europe and Asia.”
North Korea’s battlefield aid to Russia in the Ukraine conflict was also raised by Brennan. Sullivan said the administration wasn’t sure what kind of deal North Korea leader Kim Jong Un struck in exchange for his troops.
“We don’t know for sure, and frankly, I think Vladimir Putin doesn’t know for sure. I think he probably hasn’t decided exactly what he’s going to do for North Korea on a going forward basis.” Sullivan added that Kim Jong Un is expecting something significant.
Does that include support of North Korea’s nuclear program?
“That’s a distinct possibility,” Sullivan said. “I can’t say exactly what will happen, but we have already heard the Russians come out and say that North Korea’s nuclear program should be looked at differently today than it was five or 10 years ago. So the concern about the relationship between Russia and North Korea, in both directions, is very real and something that all of the nations of the free world need to pay attention to.”
