The White House announced on Thursday that the US aid to Ukraine to counter the Russian invasion has “completely stopped” due to the lack of agreement in Congress to continue supporting the authorities in Kyiv, EFE and Reuters reported.

At the same time, negotiations are ongoing in Washington regarding an aid package to Ukraine, the condition of which may be a review of security measures at the US borders.

“The assistance that we have been providing is now suspended,” White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said at a press conference.

The future of American aid to Ukraine is currently being decided in Congress, where Democrats control the Senate (upper house) and Republicans control the House of Representatives (lower house).

Democratic US President Joe Biden has asked Congress to approve an additional $61 billion in aid to Ukraine, but the Republican opposition has said it will approve the new aid package only if Democrats agree to implement a series of measures in the US. -Mexican border.

Against that backdrop, Kirby used his press conference Thursday to again urge Republicans to approve aid to Ukraine, especially after U.S. intelligence concluded that Russia used North Korean ballistic missiles in some of its latest attacks against Ukraine.

“Attacks by the Russians are increasing. And now they’re using North Korea’s ballistic missiles to launch these attacks,” Kirby said.

According to Kirby, Russia launched at least one such ballistic missile over Ukraine on December 30, 2023, as well as “several” North Korean ballistic missiles on January 2 of this year as part of another attack on Ukrainian infrastructure.

These missiles were an integral part of Russia’s missile and drone attacks on Ukraine in late 2023 and early this year, the largest since the war began in February 2022.

According to the State Department, the United States, the largest provider of military aid to Ukraine, has given Kyiv $44.2 billion since the start of the war. (Agerpress)