US House Republicans want Biden administration to unclassify Ukraine report

By Patricia Zengerle

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Republican leaders of U.S. House of Representatives national security committees demanded on Wednesday that Democratic President Joe Biden's administration release an unclassified version of its report on its strategy for the war in Ukraine.

They made their demand a day before Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy was to visit the U.S. Capitol to meet with lawmakers.

Congress has approved nearly $175 billion of aid and military assistance for Ukraine and allied nations in the 2-1/2 years since Russia's full-scale invasion, and many lawmakers say they expect Washington will need to approve more money to help the government in Kyiv within the next several months.

Reuters reported on Sept. 9 that the administration had sent the report to Congress, months after a June deadline mandated in a multibillion-dollar spending bill passed in April. That bill had required the Biden administration to submit a detailed strategy for Ukraine by early June.

That report was classified and lawmakers have been pushing since for a version to be made available to the public, especially as they face a possible vote by early next year on providing more funding.

"Given the vital U.S. interests at stake in Ukraine defeating Putin’s invading forces, all of Congress and the American people deserve to understand how their hard-earned tax dollars are being spent," the chairs of the House Foreign Affairs, Armed Services, Intelligence, Appropriations and other committees said in a joint statement.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

(Reporting by Patricia Zengerle, Editing by William Maclean)