Biden signed billions, Kiev will immediately receive HIMARS ammunition and Bradley armored vehicles

In a speech after the signing of the law, Biden declared that this step strengthens the security of the US and the entire world. We have to act quickly, he said in connection with the US additions of military aid to Ukraine, which have been blocked since the end of last year due to a lack of funds.

The president continued, until the additions started immediately. Within a few hours, literally in a few hours, we will send Ukraine equipment for air defense, ammunition, artillery and missile systems, and armored vehicles, he said. His government estimates the value of the new package at one billion dollars, it includes, among other things, ammunition for the HIMARS rocket launcher or the Bradley fighting vehicle.

For Biden, the approval of additional funding is a known rush, but legislative delays have significantly undermined his government’s efforts to help Ukrainians deal with Russian aggression, according to the AP agency. According to him, the new injection in the form of weapons and ammunition will probably not force Ukraine to immediately turn around for the better after months of problems on the battlefield.

So far, since the Russian invasion in November 2022, the US has provided Kiev with military equipment worth more than 40 billion dollars. The failure of this support in recent months has led to the advance of Russian troops deeper into Ukrainian land and thus to the problems of Ukrainian anti-aircraft defense, which has not succeeded in chipping away the tireless Russian armor.

Zelenskyy refused the help

We will do this in order to compensate for half a year that has passed during debates and doubts, Zelensky said today on the Telegram platform.

No matter what, let’s get the support we need… to protect lives from the Russians, Zelenskyi said. He said that in the last few days, the Ukrainian authorities have actively cooperated with their American counterparts so that the aid package contains the weapons that the Ukrainians need.

It amounts to one billion dollars and includes exactly what we discussed with President Biden during our conversation, Zelenskyy said on site X. The telegram mentions air defense, anti-aircraft and anti-tank weapons, ammunition for HIMARS rocket launchers and ATACMS long-range missiles. He called the United States for help.

Of the funds newly allocated by the Congress for the support of Ukraine, about a quarter of them are pensions for military personnel. The signed legislative package thus contains 17 billion dollars for aid to Israel, 9 billion for humanitarian aid, especially in the Gaza Strip, and 8 billion for US partners in Southeast Asia.

Biden first applied for the approval of this release about six months ago, but his proposal ran into opposition from the Republican Party, which made the approval conditional on strong changes in immigration policy. In the end, he gives a prole without this point, but with several additional clauses, including a mechanism to take action against TikTok or fully change the aid to Ukraine into a forgivable loan.

It was a difficult path, the president said today about the legislative process. There should have been unity and it should have gotten there (to the president’s desk) faster, he noted.

The fight in Congress resulted from the complex situation in the defunct chamber, where the Republican Party controls one chamber by a narrow margin and the Democrat controls the other by a similar margin. Billions in support of Kyiv was eventually pushed through by Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson despite the opposition of half of his party colleagues, while the approved pension was supported by all Democrats. one hundred of them, on the other hand, refused to support the financial armaments of Israel due to the mass killing of civilians in Gaza.

Biden said that buying the package would provide Israel with significant support that would help it defend itself and its allies in the region. At the same time, he spoke about the importance of humanitarian aid for the people of Gaza and called on Israel to ensure that food, water and medicine reach the Palestinians without delay.