The elected members of the American House of Representatives will vote on Wednesday evening on a huge envelope of nearly 14 billion dollars for the Ukrainian crisis, which includes an economic and humanitarian component, but also weapons and ammunition.
These funds should allow Kiev to protect its electricity network, fight cyberattacks and equip itself with defensive weapons. The package also includes more than $2.6 billion in humanitarian aid and more than $1 billion to support refugees fleeing Ukraine.
“We will continue to support the courageous Ukrainian people who are fighting for their country,” assured Joe Biden on Twitter.
This envelope also includes more than 6.5 billion dollars for the Pentagon, which will be used in particular for the deployment of troops in the region. Funds are also allocated to finance the response against Moscow, starting with sanctions against Russian oligarchs.
The envelope for Ukraine has been attached to the US federal budget for the year 2022, 1.5 trillion dollars in spending on which elected officials must decide before the end of the week.
“Dangerous time”
Senate Democrat Leader Chuck Schumer urged Congress to act “very quickly.” “Ukrainians lack food, clothing, shelter, electricity and medicine,” he said.
Rare fact in a Congress accustomed to political quarrels: Democrats as Republicans support these measures. Many of them spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky last weekend, after which the elected officials urged the Biden administration to step up its aid to Kiev and beef up its response against Moscow.
“The United States and its partners are going through a dangerous period,” assured conservative tenor Mitch McConnell, seeing in this agreement a “decisive step that our national security needs”.
Within the large American federal budget of 1,500 billion dollars, more than 15 billion dollars had also been provisioned to fight against the pandemic. But this section had to be removed at the last minute from the final draft due to protests by some Democrats.
After being voted on in the House on Wednesday, the text will take the road to the Senate, before being promulgated by Joe Biden.
At the same time, the elected members of the House of Representatives must also vote on Wednesday on a ban on importing Russian energy, following in the footsteps of the American president who announced an embargo on these materials on Tuesday by decree. In addition to banning such imports, the congressional bill also requires the United States to encourage Russia’s suspension from the World Trade Organization.