The US Congress will take a first step on Tuesday towards the release of a new huge envelope of nearly 40 billion dollars for Ukraine, following Joe Biden in his unwavering support for Kyiv.
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“With this aid program, America sends a signal to the world of our unwavering determination to support the courageous people of Ukraine until victory” against Moscow, underlined the Democratic Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, in a letter to elected officials.
Within this large envelope: 6 billion dollars which should allow Ukraine to equip itself with armored vehicles, strengthen its anti-aircraft defense at a time when fighting is still raging in the east and south of the country.
Nearly 9 billion dollars are also planned to ensure, among other things, “the continuity of Ukrainian democratic institutions”, as well as a large humanitarian component.
US President Joe Biden has been calling for a huge $33 billion budget extension for Ukraine for several weeks.
But, Monday evening, Democratic and Republican leaders agreed to go even further, finding a compromise around an envelope of 40 billion dollars, the equivalent of Cameroon’s GDP in 2020.
The elected representatives of the House of Representatives should, barring great surprise, give their assent to this budget on Tuesday evening, before a vote in the Senate at the end of the week or at the beginning of next week.
“Passing this emergency funding quickly is essential to help the people of Ukraine in their fight against Putin the cruel one,” insisted the leader of the Democrats in the Senate, Chuck Schumer on Tuesday.
He felt the United States had a “moral obligation” to stand with “our friends in Ukraine.”
A rarity in a Congress so accustomed to political wrangling: these measures enjoy very broad cross-partisan support.
In a statement Monday, the US president urged Congress to vote “immediately” on such funding.
There is, according to the American executive, urgency.
US intelligence chief Avril Haines warned on Tuesday that Vladimir Putin, who is preparing for a protracted conflict in Ukraine, was counting on a waning of Western support in Kyiv.
The Russian president “is probably counting on a weakening of the determination of the United States and the European Union, when the shortages of food goods and the rise in energy prices will worsen”, she warned. .
However, according to Joe Biden, the resources provided by the United States to help Ukraine must dry up within ten days.
“We cannot allow our aid distributions to stop pending a decision by Congress,” said the American president, who regularly expresses his desire to lead the great fight of democracies against authoritarian regimes.
Nearly 9 billion dollars of these funds must also enable the Americans to replenish their own armament stocks.
A traditional foreign policy ally of US presidents, Congress had already released nearly $14 billion for the Ukraine crisis in mid-March, after hearing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky compare the conflict in his country to the darkest hours of American history, Pearl Harbor, the attacks of September 11…
Two Senate heavyweights, Republican Lindsey Graham and Democrat Richard Blumenthal, went a step further in the fightback against Moscow on Tuesday, unveiling a resolution that urges the US foreign minister to put Russia on the US blacklist of “states supporting terrorism”.
Four countries today are on this list: Cuba, Iran, Syria and North Korea.
Reference-www.tvanouvelles.ca