Poland FM Says US House Speaker to Blame if Ukraine Fails

Poland's top diplomat on Monday appealed to US Speaker of the House Mike Johnson to allow a vote on approving much-needed aid to Ukraine, warning he would bear responsibility if Russia triumphs.

"I again appeal personally to Speaker Mike Johnson. Please let democracy take its course. Please, let's pass this to a vote," Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said on a visit to Washington.

"I'd like him to know that the whole world is watching what he would do. And if this supplemental were not to pass and Ukraine were to suffer reversals on the battlefield, it will be his responsibility," he said at the Atlantic Council before a meeting with Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

Johnson leads a razor-thin Republican majority in the House of Representatives, and has refused to put a vote on a so-called supplemental funding bill in which US President Joe Biden has asked for $61 billion in new assistance for Ukraine.

Johnson, an ally of Donald Trump who is seeking a rematch with Biden, has backed the former president in attempting to link the foreign aid to debate on measures against unauthorized migration into the United States from Mexico.

The strong remarks from Sikorski come after unusual biting criticism of US lawmakers by Poland's new prime minister, Donald Tusk, who warned that Ronald Reagan, an icon for Republicans, "must be turning in his grave."

Sikorski charged that Russian President Vladimir Putin was testing US credibility and pointed to Russia's imports of weapons from Iran and North Korea.

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"This mix of terrorists and dictators are united by one thing -- their hatred of America, the West and of democracy, hatred fueled by fear," Sikorski said.

"They are hungry to show that the US is weak, ineffective and hopelessly divided, that America can no longer act effectively or be a force for good in the world."