US President Joe Biden announced on Thursday that he had signed a $ 33 billion request for additional funding for Ukraine from Congress as Russia’s invasion enters a new, critical phase.
The request for funding is expected to support Ukraine this fiscal year, or about five months, and includes $ 20.4 billion in military aid.
Biden described the massive demand as critical to global stability.
He called on Congress to approve funding “as soon as possible.”
He reiterated that he would not send US troops to Ukraine and said the United States was “not attacking Russia” but instead “helping Ukraine defend itself against Russian aggression”, blaming Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“Russia is the aggressor, without ‘if’, ‘and’ or ‘but’ for that. “Russia is the aggressor and the world must and will seek responsibility from Russia,” he said.
Biden noted some of the provisions in the $ 33 billion claim, including:
- $ 20.4 billion has been requested for military and security assistance
- $ 8.5 billion in economic aid to the Ukrainian government and people
- $ 3 billion to be provided for additional humanitarian aid and food security funding, as well as targeted funding to address economic disruption
He also detailed new proposed legislation to hold Russian oligarchs accountable.
Although members agreed that more money is needed for Ukraine, it is not yet clear how the amendment will pass through Congress quickly, nor is it clear how quickly this proposal can move for the oligarchs. The likely path would be to link the two pieces of legislation together, but Republican and Democratic leaders are in the early stages of talks on how to move more funding to Ukraine.
The president also reacted to news earlier this week that Russia had cut off gas supplies to Poland and Bulgaria after both countries refused to pay in rubles, creating more uncertainty in already war-torn global oil markets. .
“Let me be clear, we will not allow Russia to intimidate or blackmail them out of these sanctions. We will not allow them to use their oil and gas to avoid consequences. “We are working with other nations such as Korea, Japan, Qatar and others to support our efforts to help European allies threatened by gas blackmail and their energy needs in other ways,” he said.
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