Biden, who has been in Kiev since Sunday, previously assured Ukraine of USA support and announced the release of an additional $190 million in US aid to help conduct structural reforms.
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Speaking at the Ukrainian parliament on Tuesday, Biden said it was imperative that Kyiv makes its governance more transparent, adding that “corruption eats Ukraine like cancer”.
“I think that is going to be a major theme of the trip – that nothing that is going on in the Middle East has changed one iota of our commitment to the Ukrainian people and to their security”, the US official said.
The Kremlin today insisted Russian Federation has made its last offer to Ukraine on restructuring its debt as the clock ticks down on a deadline this month that could see Kiev pushed into default.
Biden’s visit is his fourth to Kiev since Russia’s troops overran Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula in March 2014 and then watched with approval as pro-Kremlin insurgents carved out their own region in the eastern industrial heartland of the ex-Soviet state.
Biden used both his meeting Monday with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and Tuesday’s parliamentary appearance to drive home the message that Washington remained fully committed to Kiev despite the recent shift in global attention to Syria.
“Civilians in the conflict-afflicted eastern parts of Ukraine end the year as they began it, in a very hard humanitarian and human rights situation”, said Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, the United Nations high commissioner for human rights, whose office produced the report.
“It is no exaggeration to say the hopes of freedom-loving people the world over are with you, because so much rides on your fragile experiment with democracy succeeding”, Biden said.
Biden said each lawmaker will be judged by future generations upon whether they put the greater good of all Ukrainian people over local interests that have divided the country.
Biden arrived in the Ukrainian capital late on December 6.
The vice president also addressed Russian aggression in Ukraine, saying the USA does not – and never will – recognize Moscow’s annexation of Crimea.
Biden also warned of the consequences if Ukraine doesn’t implement reforms and cut corruption.
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Anger at corruption fueled the Orange Revolution and an uprising that unseated pro-Russian leader Viktor Yanukovych in 2014.
