President Joe Biden speaks before signing a $95 billion Ukraine aid package that also includes support for Israel, Taiwan, and other allies, in the State Dining Room of the White House on April 24, 2024, in Washington.
| Photo Credit: AP

U.S. President Joe Biden vowed to send fresh weapons to Ukraine within days as he prepared to sign on April 24 an aid package including $61 billion meant to help Kyiv’s forces push back against Russia.

Congress approved on Tuesday the long-delayed legislation, which also contained a measure to ban TikTok in the United States if the popular social media app does not cut ties with its Chinese parent company.

Days after the Republican-led House of Representatives cleared the aid — part of a larger $95 billion package of assistance to allies including Israel and Taiwan — the Democratic-controlled Senate followed suit, passing it with bipartisan support on a 79-18 vote.

“I will sign this bill into law and address the American people as soon as it reaches my desk tomorrow so we can begin sending weapons and equipment to Ukraine this week,” Mr. Biden said in a statement shortly after the vote.

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Passage of the bill, which also provides much-needed humanitarian assistance to Gaza, Sudan and Haiti, comes after months of acrimonious debate among lawmakers over how or even whether to help Ukraine defend itself.

A similar aid package passed the Senate in February, but had been stalled in the House while Republican Speaker Mike Johnson — heeding calls from ex-president Donald Trump and his hardline allies — demanded concessions from Mr. Biden on immigration policies, before a sudden reversal.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who visited Washington in December to plead for fresh aid, quickly thanked U.S. lawmakers for passing the bill, saying on social media that he looked “forward to the bill being signed soon and the next military aid package matching the resoluteness that I always see in our negotiations.”

“Ukraine’s long-range capabilities, artillery, and air defense are critical tools for restoring just peace sooner,” Zelensky added.

Mr. Biden said the bill’s approval showed the United States stood “resolutely for democracy and freedom, and against tyranny and oppression,” while the Senate’s top Democrat, Chuck Schumer, said it sent a message that the United States “will not turn our back on you.”

But Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Wednesday that the U.S. aid would make little difference on the front line.

“All the new batches of weapons are already surely ready and will not change the dynamics on the front,” Mr. Peskov told reporters.

The United States has been the chief military backer of Ukraine in its war against Russia, but Congress had not approved large-scale funding for its ally for nearly a year and a half.

The financing of the war has become a point of contention ahead of a presidential election in November that is expected to pit Mr. Biden against Mr. Trump once again.

Aid ‘within days’

A Pentagon spokesperson told reporters Tuesday it could deliver fresh aid to Ukraine “within days.”

Ukraine’s military is facing a severe shortage of weapons and recruits as Moscow exerts constant pressure from the east.

Frontline circumstances are expected to worsen in the coming weeks, with Ukrainian intelligence head Kyrylo Budanov predicting a “rather difficult situation” beginning in mid-May.

The debate over Ukraine assistance has highlighted wide divisions between Democrats and Republicans in Congress — but it has also revealed deep fissures within the conservative movement ahead of the November elections.

While some hardline Republicans have been wary of sending funds overseas, Mr. Biden and the Democrats frame Ukraine aid as an investment in U.S. security against Russian aggression.

The Ukraine bill also allows Washington to confiscate and sell Russian assets and provide the money to Kyiv to finance reconstruction, a move that has been embraced by other G7 nations.

Kyiv has stepped up aerial attacks on Russian energy facilities over recent weeks in the hopes of crippling Moscow’s ability to attack Ukrainian cities or gain more ground in the industrial east.

Ukrainian drones attacked oil facilities in western Russia overnight, defence sources in Kyiv confirmed Wednesday, in the latest aerial assault by Kyiv aiming to dent Russian military logistics.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Saturday that US House of Representatives’ approval of security aid to Ukraine would lead to more damage and deaths in the conflict there.

The decision “will make the United States of America richer, further ruin Ukraine and result in the deaths of even more Ukrainians, the fault of the Kyiv regime,” Peskov was quoted as saying by Russian news agencies.

The Kremlin has been locked in conflict in Ukraine since invading it more than two years ago.

The House approved a legislative package providing $60.84 billion to Ukraine, including $23 billion to replenish US weapons, stocks and facilities.

The package now goes to the US Senate, which passed a similar measure two months ago, for expected approval next week. It then is passed on to President Joe Biden to sign.

Peskov also said that provisions in the legislation allowing the US administration to confiscate seized Russian assets and transfer them to Ukraine to fund reconstruction would tarnish the image of the United States.

Russia, he said, would enact retaliatory measures.

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, writing on the Telegram messaging app, said the approval of US aid for Ukraine was expected and grounded in “Russophobia”.

“We will, of course, be victorious regardless of the bloodsoaked $61 billion, which will mostly be swallowed up by their insatiable military industrial complex,” wrote Medvedev, one of Russia’s most vociferous hawks as deputy chairman of the Security Council.

Maria Zakharova, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, said the approval of aid in the legislation to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan would “deepen crises throughout the world”.

“Military assistance to the Kyiv regime is direct sponsorship of terrorist activity,” Zakharova wrote on Telegram.

“To Taiwan, it is interference in China’s internal affairs. To Israel, it is a road straight to escalation and an unprecedented rise in tension in the region.”

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Washington:

The United States on Thursday announced a new $150 million military assistance package for Ukraine that includes artillery and small-arms ammunition as well as anti-tank weapons.

Washington is by far Kyiv’s biggest donor of security aid, committing $43.9 billion since Russian forces invaded in February 2022.

But opposition from hardline Republican lawmakers has put future assistance for Kyiv in doubt, and the US government is now relying on previously approved aid in the absence of new funding from Congress.

The latest package “utilizes assistance previously authorized for Ukraine during prior fiscal years,” the Pentagon said in a statement.

“The Biden administration calls on Congress to meet its commitment to the people of Ukraine by passing additional funding to ensure Ukraine continues to have what it needs to defend itself against Russia’s brutal war of choice,” the statement said.

The package also includes air defense missiles, night vision devices, demolitions munitions and cold weather gear.

US officials have spearheaded the push for international support for Ukraine, quickly forging a coalition to back Kyiv after Russia invaded and coordinating aid from dozens of countries.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)