Ukraine’s government has received support from the United States as it seeks to tighten its fiscal belt, but other European countries have threatened retaliation in response.
The “u.s. military aid to ukraine by year” is a shift in the U.S. government’s approach to Ukraine after Russia invaded Crimea and eastern Ukraine, according to The Hill.
WASHINGTON— As the US switched to a longer-term commitment to support Kyiv in fending off Russia’s invasion, lawmakers suggested they were ready to rapidly adopt another package providing military and economic help for Ukraine.
As part of a larger budget measure earlier this year, Congress granted $13.6 billion in military, humanitarian, and economic help to Ukraine. With the conflict still raging, officials and senators predict that the White House will present a supplementary request to Congress for a second multibillion-dollar assistance package before the end of the week.
Sen. Ben Cardin stated, “We’re simply waiting for the administration to declare that figure” (D., Md.).
The United States and its NATO partners have been deploying Javelins, Stingers, and other weaponry to Ukraine to aid in its defense against Russian strikes. Shelby Holliday of the Wall Street Journal describes how some of these weapons function and why experts believe they are valuable to Ukrainian troops. Photo courtesy of Ukrainian Defense Ministry Press/AFP/Getty Images.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) described the crisis as a battle between “tyranny vs. democracy itself,” adding that the US “has a moral commitment to provide the Ukrainian people with the instruments they need, for as long as they need them.”
Republicans indicated they were on board as well, but requested that Democratic leaders maintain the Ukraine spending bill distinct from other outstanding agenda items, such as a blocked package supporting Covid-19 vaccinations and treatments, which is mired in a border policy debate.
The United States ‘had a moral duty to support the Ukrainian people,’ according to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.
Agence France-Presse/Getty Images/jim Watson
“I’m afraid that Chuck Schumer and [House Speaker] Nancy Pelosi would attempt to politicize this by coupling it with something that may not be appealing to Republicans, then blaming Republicans for not supporting assistance to Ukraine,” Sen. Steve Daines said (R., Mont.).
“More, more, more,” urged Sen. Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.), adding that the US should give “everything they need in terms of economic and military help.”
In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Ukrainian Finance Minister Sergii Marchenko said he was asking $2 billion per month in nonmilitary help to cover the next three months. The Biden administration already allocated $1 billion to assist Ukraine in paying for essential government services and wages for public workers.
“We’re looking for a bridge to the new normal, not a way to pay all of our spending till the end of the year,” he added.
After a two-week break from Washington, lawmakers returned this week with a renewed commitment to aiding the beleaguered nation, which Russia invaded in February. Many people have been to the Ukrainian-Polish border, and Mr. Daines visited Bucha, a town outside of Kyiv that was formerly held by Russian soldiers.
At an airfield outside of Kyiv in mid-February, Ukrainian forces unload Javelin anti-tank missiles provided as part of the United States’ military help to the Ukraine.
Efrem Lukatsky/Associated Press photo
The United States has provided Ukraine with billions of dollars in weaponry and deadly equipment, including hundreds of Stinger antiaircraft missiles and thousands of Javelin antiarmor systems, and has placed harsh sanctions on Russia with partners.
In recent days, the administration has highlighted that weaponry and supplies delivered to Ukraine are being put to good use in a conflict that benefits Kyiv and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization by weakening Russia’s military.
Deficit expenditure is often used to pay emergency spending packages, such as the latest Ukraine package. No politicians mentioned the need for offsets or additional money to pay for the extra help on Tuesday.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin stopped by a facility in southeast Poland that was distributing 155mm howitzers, artillery rounds, and other weapons and supplies bound for nearby Ukraine as part of their trip to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv.
“There have been around 10 antiaircraft weapons of one form or another for every plane that the Russians have flown in the sky,” Mr. Blinken said in testimony to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday.
Now that Ukraine has repelled Russia’s push on its northern towns and thwarted President Vladimir Putin’s attempt to destabilize the country’s leadership, the US and its allies want to step up attempts to deliver long-range weaponry for the country’s east and south.
The Biden administration is attempting to strike a careful balance between ensuring Ukraine has the resources it needs to fight Russia—while also limiting Moscow’s ability to threaten its neighbors in the future—and avoiding actions that could escalate the conflict or draw NATO countries into the conflict.
“NATO is going to war with Russia via a proxy and equipping that proxy,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov stated in a Monday night interview on Russian state television. “Under no circumstances should a third global war be permitted,” he stated, adding that “in a nuclear conflict, there can be no victors.”
“Any hyperbole about the hypothetical use of nuclear weapons is irresponsible and unproductive,” Mr. Austin told reporters at Ramstein Air Base in Germany on Tuesday.
He told reporters in Poland the day before that “we want to see Russia degraded to the point where it can’t do the types of things it did in invading Ukraine.”
If Democratic leadership seeks to link Ukraine money to Covid assistance, the approval of further aid might be stalled. Senators reached an agreement on a $10 billion Covid deal that involved repurposing existing funds, but a vote was postponed after Republicans insisted on extending a pandemic-era immigration policy known as Title 42, which allows Border Patrol agents to quickly turn away migrants at the southern border. In asking for a vote on Title 42, several Democrats have joined Republicans.
Natalie Andrews, Andrew Duehren, and William Mauldin may be reached at [email protected], [email protected], and [email protected], respectively.
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The “who voted against aid to ukraine” is a shift in policy that will see lawmakers prepare to tackle more aid for Ukraine. The move comes after the US and EU pledged over $50 billion in loans, grants, and other assistance.
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