Biden asks Congress for approval to launch an unprecedented plan for military assistance to Ukraine

Biden asks Congress for approval to launch an unprecedented plan for military assistance to Ukraine

The president revealed that his administration has already supplied Ukraine with 10 anti-tank weapon systems for every tank Russia sent to the country.

“We need this package to help Ukraine fight for its freedom,” he said. “The cost of this fight is not cheap, but giving in to aggression is going to be more expensive if we allow it,” added the US president, who reiterated that the United States does not plan to send troops to Ukraine.

“Our NATO allies, our EU partners, are also going to pay their share, but we have to do our part to lead the alliance,” he said.

Of the 33,000 million dollars, 20,400 million would be destined to provide military and security aid to kyiv, which will be added to supplies for more than 5,000 million already delivered. Meanwhile, 8,500 million would go to the Ukrainian government and 3,000 million would be for additional humanitarian assistance.

The proposed package also includes funding to address economic disruptions in the United States and elsewhere, ranging from the impact on the food supply to the availability of critical components used in high-tech manufacturing.

“The President’s funding request is what we believe is needed to enable Ukraine to succeed during the next five months of this war. And we have every expectation that our partners and allies, particularly those in the G7, as well as many other countries, will continue to provide comparable levels of assistance,” said the senior official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

While both Republicans and Biden’s Democratic Party have signaled they want to continue to support Ukraine, a dispute over the request for billions of dollars in new funding to deal with the COVID pandemic, unrelated to the war issue, threatens to complicate the legislative approval process.

After Russia cut off gas to Poland and Bulgaria on Wednesday for not paying for the supply in rubles, as Putin had demanded, Biden said the United States will not allow Moscow to use “gas blackmail” to pressure European allies. and undermining the sanctions imposed on Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine.

“We will not allow Russia to intimidate or blackmail to circumvent these sanctions. We will not allow you to use your oil and gas to avoid the consequences of your aggression,” Biden said.

The Russian move, which came a day after the United States and other Western countries promised to accelerate the supply of weapons to kyiv, including large-scale heavy material (see separate note), was also branded as “blackmail” by the Union. Union (EU), while the Kremlin assured that it was in response to the sanctions imposed on it for the invasion of Ukraine.

The White House chief also questioned the Kremlin for making “idle” and “irresponsible” claims about the possible use of nuclear weapons in the Ukraine conflict, saying such claims showed “desperation.”

Confiscations

Within the proposal that he will send to Congress, Biden included the request for new powers to seize and reuse assets of Russian businessmen close to the Kremlin to compensate Ukraine for the damage caused by the Russian invasion, the White House reported.

The liquidation of the assets confiscated from Russian businessmen would allow the profits generated to “transfer” to kyiv to “remedy the damage (caused to Ukraine) by the Russian invasion,” the White House announced.

Biden is also proposing to the House and Senate an amendment that would make it a criminal offense for a person to “knowingly or intentionally possess proceeds obtained directly from corrupt dealings with the Russian government.”

Source: Ambito

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Latest Posts