Russian and Ukrainian officials voiced a rare note of agreement on Monday, with both sides playing down the significance of a U.S. government spending bill that lacked new aid for Kyiv.
The absence of more Ukraine funding in the stopgap bill — which passed late Saturday, allowing Washington to narrowly avert a shutdown of the federal government — reflected diminishing appetite in some corners of the Republican Party to continue funding Kyiv’s war effort.
But Russia’s deputy foreign minister, Sergei A. Ryabkov, said on Monday that he did not expect U.S. support for Ukraine to change, calling the congressional negotiations “nonsense” and “just a performance for the public.”
“Interparty squabbles are one thing, and support is another thing,” he told reporters. “They will find the money.”
The Kremlin’s spokesman, Dmitri S. Peskov, said that he expected that “America will continue its involvement in this conflict,” but predicted that “exhaustion” over the conflict would mount in the United States and other countries.
Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, also suggested that the lack of Ukraine funding in the bill was an “individual case” as a shutdown loomed, not a “systemic” change in the level of U.S. aid.
“We do not believe that U.S. support has faltered,” Mr. Kuleba said at a news conference in Kyiv, according to local news media reports. He added that the Ukrainian government was in “deep discussions” with both Republicans and Democrats in Congress.
Members of both U.S. political parties have expressed confidence that agreements on further financial commitments for Ukraine will come in the weeks ahead. President Biden said on Sunday that there was “an overwhelming sense of urgency” to secure more funding for Ukraine, which he promised to deliver.
The stopgap bill continues Ukraine funding at current levels for 45 days and will not immediately affect the pipeline of already committed U.S. military aid. The Pentagon still has the authority to draw about $5.6 billion in arms and equipment from existing stockpiles.
Eric Schmitt, Katie Rogers and Karoun Demirjian contributed reporting.
