On Tuesday evening, after a months-long deadlock, the US Congress passed a comprehensive package of foreign aid worth 95 billion dollars, opening the way to send new weapons to Ukraine in the light of advancing Russian forces and shortages of military supplies in that country.
The Senate voted 79 to 18 to pass four bills approved by the House of Representatives last Saturday, after Republican leaders allowed a vote on military aid to Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan and US partners in the Indo-Pacific last week.
Four legal proposals were adopted in the Senate in one package. The President of the United States of America, Joseph Biden, announced that he will sign the bill on Wednesday.
"I will sign this bill as soon as it reaches my desk tomorrow and appeal to the Americans to begin sending weapons and equipment to Ukraine this Sunday. The need is urgent: for Ukraine, which is facing relentless bombing by Russia, Israel, which has just faced an attack of Iran without precedent, for refugees and those affected by conflicts and natural disasters around the world, including in Gaza, Sudan, Haiti," Biden said in a statement.
The largest proposal calls for $61 billion for Ukraine, another $26 billion for Israel and humanitarian aid for civilians in conflict zones around the world, a third provides $8,12 billion for "confronting communist China" in the Indo-Pacific, while the fourth includes a potential ban on the app. TikTok, measures to transfer frozen Russian assets to Ukraine and new sanctions on Iran.
"This legislative proposal on national security is one of the most important measures that Congress has adopted in a long time to protect American security and the security of Western democracy," said the leader of the Democrats in the Senate, Chuck Schumer, at a press conference after the adoption of the proposal.
Schumer said he left a message for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday evening: We are done. Now win.
Republican leader Mitch McConnell, who has been a strong advocate for aid to Ukraine, expressed regret earlier in the day for the delay, which was largely the result of opposition from the far-right Republican side to additional aid to Kiev.
"I think we've moved away from the isolationist movement," McConnell said.
The passage of the legislative proposals opens the way for military aid to Ukraine to begin arriving within days, which would boost the morale of troops fighting against Russian forces. The new arms shipments should improve Kiev's chances of preventing a major Russian push in the east, analysts say, although it could have been more helpful if it had been passed last year when Biden requested it, Reuters reports.
On the eve of the adoption of aid for Voice of America, Pentagon officials stated that the US is preparing a new arms package for Ukraine up to one billion dollars, the first that should be financed from the adopted law.
The package includes Bradley armored fighting vehicles, ammunition for Stinger anti-aircraft systems, additional ammunition for HIMARS artillery rocket systems, 155mm artillery ammunition, ammunition for Javelin and TOW anti-tank weapons and other weapons that can be used immediately on the battlefield, officials said. spoke on condition of anonymity.
Some of the weapons will be delivered to the battlefield very quickly - in some cases in a few days - while it will take longer to deliver other pieces, the Associated Press agency reported, citing US officials.
A senior White House official told VOA that before passing the aid bill, President Biden directed the Pentagon to send military equipment to Poland and Germany to ensure it was delivered quickly to Ukraine.
The Senate passed security aid for Ukraine, Israel and the Indo-Pacific more than two months ago, with support from both Republicans and Democrats. However, there was a months-long deadlock in the House of Representatives regarding the adoption of that proposal, before it was approved as a package of four laws.
To become law, the proposal had to be passed in the same form by both houses of Congress before being signed by the president.
The White House said Biden told the Ukrainian president during a phone call on Monday that his administration would provide new security assistance "to meet Ukraine's urgent needs on the battlefield and in air defense" as soon as he signs the legislation into law.
New shipments of US weapons are being prepared as Britain announced on Tuesday that it would allocate another $620 million for a package of military aid to Ukraine, including long-range missiles and four million rounds of ammunition.
It is not known how aid to Israel will affect the conflict with Hamas in Gaza, given that the country already receives multibillion-dollar security aid from America. The package includes humanitarian aid that supporters hope will help Palestinians in Gaza.
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