Biden and Scholz will discuss aid to Ukraine in the first half of February

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will visit Washington in the first half of February for talks with US President Joe Biden as the leaders seek to secure continued Western aid to Ukraine, Bloomberg reported.
The meeting will take place at a time when more than $100 billion in US and EU military and financial aid remains blocked by domestic political turmoil.
Scholz and Biden plan to hold a bilateral meeting at the White House in the second week of February, two people familiar with the matter said.
No official announcements have been made about the German chancellor's visit.
Biden signed the latest $250 million U.S. aid package for Ukraine on Dec. 27. A supplemental funding bill, including $61 billion in aid to Ukraine, has stalled amid arguments in Congress, delaying further military support for Kiev, which is fending off a Russian invasion.
Meanwhile, in the EU, member states are due to vote on a €50bn financial support package for Ukraine at a summit on February 1, after Hungary blocked aid in December.
Brussels is looking at alternatives to help Ukraine if Budapest continues to oppose the four-year aid package.
Scholz has recently criticized other EU countries for insufficient defense aid to Ukraine, arguing that Germany cannot make up the shortfall.
Berlin is the second largest provider of military aid to Kiev after the US.
Despite the German leader's pressure on EU allies to increase their military support, he has also placed limits on his own supplies to Ukraine, blocking the delivery of long-range Taurus missiles over fears the move would draw Germany into the war. /BGNES