The United States Congress approved this Tuesday a huge $61 billion military and economic aid package for Ukraine, after months of tough and tense negotiations.
The aid plan, for a total of $95 billion and which also includes funds for Israel, Taiwan and an ultimatum to TikTok, obtained very broad support in the Senate, after having been approved a few days ago in the House of Representatives. .
The Democratic-controlled Senate followed suit, passing the broader package with bipartisan support in a 79-18 vote. It also includes much-needed humanitarian assistance for Gaza, Sudan and Haiti.
“Finally, finally, finally, tonight, after more than six months of hard work and many twists and turns along the way, the United States is sending a message to the entire world: we will not turn our backs on you,” said the Democratic leader Chuck Schumer before the vote.
His Republican counterpart, Mitch McConnell, hailed the vote as “an extremely important day in the history of our country and the free world.”
The package now goes to Biden, who presents it as a vital bulwark against Russian aggression and has told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that he will sign it into law.
Moments after the approval, Biden said he expects the United States to begin “sending weapons and equipment to Ukraine this week.” Washington “resolutely supports democracy and freedom, against tyranny and oppression,” the Democrat said in a statement.
The Ukrainian army faces a shortage of recruits and ammunition that weakens it in the face of constant pressure from Russian troops in the east.
The situation on the front may worsen towards mid-May and early June, which will be a “difficult period,” the head of Ukrainian military intelligence, Kirilo Budanov, had warned on Monday.
The aid plan also authorizes Biden to seize and sell Russian assets so that they can be used to finance the reconstruction of Ukraine, an idea that is gaining support in other G7 countries.
The United States Congress had not approved an aid package for its ally for almost a year and a half.
Israel, Taiwan, TikTok
The debate in Congress over aid to Ukraine revealed divisions between Democrats and Republicans.
But also the contest between conservatives in the middle of the campaign for the November presidential elections, which will be a duel between Biden and his predecessor, the Republican Donald Trump.
On Saturday, during the vote in the House of Representatives, some congressmen waved Ukrainian flags amid boos from anti-aid Trumpists.
The US president and the Democratic Party were in favor of aid to Ukraine, which they see as an investment in US security in the face of what they see as Russia’s aggressive ambitions.
Republicans, however, were increasingly reluctant and the conservative leader of the House of Representatives, Mike Johnson, blocked the text for a long time.
But he ultimately supported the resumption of military and economic aid with this phrase: “To put it bluntly: I’d rather send bullets to Ukraine than American boys.”
The package also includes $13 billion in military aid for Israel, at war against the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas in the Gaza Strip, and more than $9 billion to “meet the urgent need for humanitarian aid to Gaza and other vulnerable populations.” Worldwide”.
It also includes 8 billion more to help Taiwan counter China’s threats to reincorporate it into its territory one day, even by force.
The text also provides for the ban of the TikTok application in the United States within a few months, unless the social network cuts its ties with its parent company, ByteDance, and in general with China.
US authorities accuse the platform of allowing Beijing to spy on and manipulate its 170 million users in the United States.
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