Last night, the US Senate approved an aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan worth 95 billion dollars (2.24 trillion crowns). It is written by foreign agencies. The law has yet to be signed by US President Joe Biden, who has announced that he will do so later today. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked the US Senate for approving significant aid. The result of the vote was welcomed by Israel, China criticizes the aid to Taiwan.
The package includes four laws that relate to aid to Ukraine, Israel, America’s allies in Asia, as well as new regulation of the Tiktok social network. According to Reuters, the package will release aid to Ukraine worth a total of $61 billion. Part of the aid, roughly nine to ten billion dollars, will be given to Ukraine in the form of loans. Roughly 23 billion dollars is then allocated to the purchase of weapons and ammunition for the stocks of the US army, from which Washington sends aid to Ukraine.
Another $26 billion is earmarked by the law for military aid to Israel and for humanitarian activities in crisis areas, including aid to the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. However, according to Reuters, the law prohibits the provision of funds to UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees. Roughly eight billion dollars should then go to “restricting the influence of Communist China” in Asia and to help American allies in the region. The package includes two billion dollars in military aid for Taiwan.
The package also includes a law by which American lawmakers want to force the Chinese company ByteDance to sell off the Tiktok social network. He will have up to 12 months to do this. If they do not do so, the law envisages banning them from operating on American soil. According to AFP, however, it is likely that the company will challenge the new legislation in court. American lawmakers justify the measures with concerns about the misuse of the data of American users of the social platform by Beijing.
The approval of new military aid to Ukraine, which is facing a Russian invasion, has been awaited since the end of last year. Saturday’s vote in the House of Representatives, where the package has been blocked for many months, was key. Its relatively smooth approval was expected in the Senate. 79 senators voted for, 18 members of the upper chamber were against. The approval of the package was welcomed by the leader of the Democrats in the Senate Chuck Schumer and the chairman of the Republican senators Mitch McConnell.
The result of the vote was welcomed by US President Joe Biden, who said in a statement that he would sign the law later today Washington time. “I will sign the bill and turn to the American people as soon as I get it on the table tomorrow (today or Thursday night) so that we can begin sending weapons and equipment to Ukraine this week,” Biden said. According to him, the package will help friends of the United States “defend themselves against terrorists like (the Palestinian movement) Hamas or tyrants like (Russian President Vladimir) Putin.”
US officials claimed this week that some of the military aid, such as artillery shells, missiles for anti-aircraft systems and other ammunition and weapons, are in storage in Europe. Thanks to this, they could reach Ukraine within a few days or weeks at the most.
“I am grateful to the US Senate for today approving vital aid to Ukraine,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said shortly after the vote on the X social network. According to AFP, the approval of the package is a relief for the Ukrainian army, which is facing Russian attacks.
Israeli Foreign Minister Yisrael Kac thanked this morning for the approval of military aid for his country. According to him, the approval of the aid in both chambers of the US Parliament proves the strength of the alliance between the US and Israel and “sends a strong signal to all our enemies”.
The approval of the package, on the other hand, is criticized by China, where US Foreign Minister Antony Blinken is due to visit today. The Chinese government’s Office for Relations with Taiwan has called on Washington to stop arming the island state and start fulfilling its commitment not to support Taiwan’s declaration of independence, Reuters writes.
