Visiting Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko is calling on the United States to provide lethal weapons to fight against separatists in his country's eastern region. However, the White House stopped short of answering that appeal. CRI Washington chief correspondent Xiaohong has more.
Ukrainian President Calls for Lethal Weapons from US
In an emotional speech to a joint session of the U.S. Congress on Thursday, the visiting Ukrainian President said Ukraine is at the forefront of the global fight for democracy and needs more help.
"They need more political support throughout the world. They need more military equipment, both lethal and nonlethal. Blankets, night vision goggles are also important. But one cannot win the war with blankets."
The U.S. responded by announcing fresh military aid of 46 million dollars and humanitarian aid of 5 million dollars. This will bring total U.S. aid to Ukraine to around 300 million dollars this year, in addition to a one billion loan guarantee.
However, President Barack Obama says the U.S. is still pushing for a diplomatic solution to the Ukraine crisis.
"In addition to the concrete expression of support through security assistance and economic assistance, we're gonna continue to help to mobilize the international community towards a diplomatic solution."
But he stopped short of fulfilling the request for lethal weapons.
Xiaohong, CRI, Washington DC.
