Biden APOLOGIZES to Zelensky for delay in sending more US weapons to Ukraine

During a meeting in Paris on Friday, Joe Biden apologized to Volodymyr Zelensky for the months-long delay in congressional approval of military aid to the country. The American president nonetheless maintained that his administration was still "completely" in when it came to assisting the war-torn nation in its fight against Russia.

"I apologize for those weeks of not knowing what's going to happen in terms of funding," Biden said, per the Associated Press, referring to the six-month period during which over $60 billion in aid was held up in Congress as Republicans and Democrats battled it out. "We're still in. Completely. Thoroughly."

Biden used the opportunity to tout the latest round of funding, which will amount to about $225 million and include munitions for the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, mortars, and a number of other artillery rounds. Ukraine used the HMARS to strike on Russian territory with Biden's approval.

"It's very important that in this unity, United States of America, all American people stay with Ukraine like it was during World War II," Zelensky countered. "The United States helped save human lives, to save Europe, and we count on your continuing support in standing with us shoulder to shoulder."

As the AP reports, Russia has taken advantage of the delay in the delivery of military aid by launching an offensive on Ukraine's eastern border regions of Kharkiv and Donetsk, where both troops and ammunition have been reduced.

"This battle is a crossroads," Zelensky told lawmakers at the French Assembly. "A moment where we can now write history the way we need it, or we can become victims of history as it suits ... our enemy."

On Thursday, the two met at an event commemorating the 80th anniversary of D-Day, where Biden linked the United States' liberation of Europeans from the Nazis in World War II to their desire to defend Ukraine from Putin today. He vowed that as it had done then, the US "will not walk away."