German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will visit Washington in the first half of February for talks with U.S. President Joe Biden as the leaders aim to ensure continued Western assistance to Ukraine, Bloomberg reported on Jan. 26, citing unnamed sources.
The purported meeting comes as over $100 billion in U.S. and EU military and financial aid remain stalled by domestic political turmoil.
Scholz and Biden plan to hold a bilateral meeting at the White House during the second week of February, two people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg.
No official announcements on the meeting have been made.
Biden signed the last U.S. $250 million aid package for Ukraine on Dec. 27. A supplemental funding bill, including $61 billion in aid for Ukraine, has been stalled due to disputes in Congress, delaying further military support for Kyiv defending against Russian invasion.
Meanwhile, in the EU, member states are set to vote on a 50 billion euro ($54 billion) financial support package for Ukraine at a summit on Feb. 1 after Hungary blocked the assistance in December.
Brussels is reportedly searching for alternatives to aid Ukraine if Budapest continues to oppose the four-year aid package.
Scholz has recently criticized other EU countries for providing insufficient defense assistance to Ukraine, saying that Germany can't make up for the deficit.
Germany is the second largest provider of military aid to Ukraine behind the U.S. Earlier this month, Berlin announced the first transfer of military helicopters to Ukraine.
Despite Scholz's pressure on EU allies to increase military support, he has also set limits on Germany's own provisions to Ukraine, blocking the delivery of long-range Taurus missiles over fears that the move will draw Germany into the war.
Nate Ostiller
