Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield discussed the war in Ukraine and the Israel-Hamas war

ATLANTA — The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations visited Atlanta Monday, where she discussed America's foreign policy goals in some of the world's most pressing conflict zones.

Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield was in Atlanta Monday for a United Nations convention focused on combating corruption. 11Alive spoke one-on-one with Thomas-Greenfield on the eve of an expected White House visit by Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The meeting comes as President Joe Biden ramps up pressure on Congress to pass a new wartime aid package including more than $60 billion for the embattled nation.

"This is an unprovoked war," Thomas-Greenfield said. "This is an attack by a bigger nation, a bully if I might say so, against a smaller nation."

Congress has already approved more than $110 billion in aid to Ukraine, but White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) director Shalanda Young wrote in a letter last week that "without congressional action, by the end of the year, we will run out of resources to procure more weapons and equipment for Ukraine and to provide equipment from U.S. military stocks." 

"There is no magical pot of funding available to meet this moment," she continued. "We are out of money—and nearly out of time."

The latest aid package is an effort to keep support flowing, but it's currently stalled in Congress as some lawmakers question the efficacy of sending more money to Ukraine.

"You need to articulate what the ambition is," said Republican Senator JD Vance of Ohio during an appearance on CNN this weekend. "What is $61 billion going to accomplish that $100 billion hasn't?"

Another point of contention for the proposed legislation: Republicans' insistence that any new aid package includes changes to domestic immigration policy.

Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield stressed the administration's position that passing the bill should be an urgent priority.

"If we pull back our funding to Ukraine, President Putin would be dancing in the streets," she said. "We have to continue to fund this effort."

The war in Ukraine is not the only major international conflict currently underway.

When asked about the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas, Thomas-Greenfield said, "Our views have been very clear, the president's views have been very clear: we support Israel's right to defend itself but we also caution our Israeli allies that they have to take into account civilian lives and take into account the importance of international humanitarian law and the laws of war."

"We've also been very clear that the actions taken by Hamas on October 7 have to be condemned," she said.

The ambassador said the administration's long-term goal is to find a "political solution" to the persistent conflict between Israel and factions within Palestine.

"The president's goal is to push ultimately for a two-state solution in which Palestinians can live in their own country and Israelis can live in their own country in peace and security," Thomas-Greenfield said.