(Washington) Elected members of the United States Congress promised on Saturday to release ten billion dollars in aid for Ukraine during a virtual exchange with President Volodymyr Zelensky who, for his part, renewed his request for manufacturing planes Soviet.
Posted at 12:21 p.m.
“We will quickly release this 10 billion to help the Ukrainian people economically, humanitarian and security,” Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer told him, according to a source briefed on the content of the discussions that took place by Zoom.
“Elected officials from the Senate and the House (of representatives, editor’s note), Republicans and Democrats, took part in this call. We are united in support of Ukraine,” added Republican Senator Steve Daines on Fox News. “We must vote for this aid of 10 billion, which would be half humanitarian, half military,” he added.
For his part, President Zelensky has called for tougher economic sanctions against Russia, including a ban on imports of Russian oil and gas, and the suspension of Visa and Mastercard credit cards in Russia, according to elected officials.
He also “made a poignant appeal for Eastern European countries to supply him with Russian-made planes. […] and I will do everything I can to have the administration facilitate their transfer,” Chuck Schumer added in a statement.
“There are planes available in some NATO countries that the Ukrainians know how to fly, but apparently the United States is part of the problem and not the solution,” said Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, however, in a video posted online on Twitter.
“Let’s give them the planes and drones they need,” he continued without giving further explanation.
The head of European diplomacy Josep Borrell said last Sunday that EU states were ready to deliver MiG-type fighter jets, which Ukrainian pilots know how to handle, but the countries concerned, including Bulgaria, Poland or Slovakia, then showed more restraint.