Germany's Scholz lobbies for Ukraine aid on Washington visit

By Jeff Mason and Andreas Rinke

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Friday he wanted to lend his support to U.S. President Joe Biden's efforts to obtain more funding for Ukraine at a White House meeting that is also expected to touch on the conflict in the Middle East.

Scholz met with U.S. business executives to talk about investment opportunities in Germany before joining Biden at the White House for talks about the two crises that are dominating world politics.

Speaking to reporters, he said he had been encouraged by the U.S. Senate's move on Thursday to advance a $95.34 billion bill that includes aid for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan after Republicans blocked compromise legislation that had included reforms to immigration policy.

Germany had made decisive contributions lately in support of Ukraine repelling a full-scale Russian invasion, he said.

"Now, the same must happen in the rest of Europe and also the United States," he said, noting that Russian President Vladimir Putin was counting on support for Ukraine withering.

He said his meeting with U.S. senators on both sides of the aisle on Thursday evening reassured him that foreign policy and security experts in the U.S. Congress understood the need for sustained support for Ukraine.

Scholz said Putin had recounted "a completely absurd story about the origins of this war" in his interview with conservative U.S. talk-show host Tucker Carlson that aired on Thursday.

"There is a clear cause and that is the will of the Russian president to annex part of Ukraine," he said.

Asked about Putin's suggestion of a prisoner swap - U.S. journalist Evan Gershkovich of the Wall Street Journal, who has been detained in Russia for nearly a year, in exchange for Vadim Krasikov, who was convicted of the 2019 murder of a Chechen dissident in Berlin - Scholz said such issues should be discussed confidentially.

No joint news conference is planned for after the Biden-Scholz talks.

White House spokesperson John Kirby said on Thursday the two leaders would "reaffirm their strong support for Ukraine and finding a way to continue to help Ukraine."

The White House has sounded warnings for months that a failure by lawmakers to provide aid to Kyiv would hurt its ability to fight Russia two years after Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

The European Union approved a four-year, 50 billion-euro ($54 billion) facility for Ukraine last week.

Ukraine, which aspires to join the NATO military alliance, relies on Western nations for military support and financial backing.

Kirby said Biden and Scholz also were likely to discuss the situation in Gaza and "what together we can do as ... strong allies to continue to make sure that Israel has what it needs to defend itself and humanitarian assistance gets into the people that need it."

They were also likely to discuss the threats by Houthi rebels to international shipping in the Red Sea, he said.

(Reporting by Jeff Mason and Andreas Rinke in Washington; Additional reporting by Steve Holland in Washington; Writing by Jeff Mason and Sarah Marsh; Editing by Matthew Lewis)