Biden Announces $225 Million in Aid to Ukraine, Apologizes for Funding Delay

President Joe Biden offered a forceful defense of democracy Friday in a speech in Pointe du Hoc, France, where U.S. Army Rangers doggedly battled their way to the top of cliffs 80 years ago to eliminate Nazi gun positions and help ensure the success of the D-Day invasion. Biden cited the heroism of those forces who helped turn the tide of World War II to urge Americans against retreating into isolationism and to argue for continued support of Ukraine in its war against Russia.

"Does anyone doubt that they would want America to stand up against Putin's aggression here in Europe today?" Biden said of the soldiers who stormed Normandy’s beaches and changed the course of history. "They fought to vanquish a hateful ideology in the ‘30s and ‘40s. Does anyone doubt they wouldn't move heaven and earth to vanquish hateful ideologies of today?"

Biden’s speech came after he announced a new $225 million package of aid to help Ukraine defend and rebuild its power grid. Biden also apologized publicly and personally to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for the lengthy delay in delivering additional funding, which Biden blamed on congressional conservatives, who had blocked the aid for months. Lawmakers approved $61 billion in new aid as part of a $95 billion national security spending package passed in April.

"We're not going to walk away from you," Biden told Zelensky. "I apologize for those weeks of not knowing what was going to pass in terms of funding, because we had trouble getting a bill that we had to pass that had the money in it from some of our very conservative members who were holding it up. But we got it done, finally."