Vice President Joe Biden has endorsed a $40 billion aid plan for Ukraine in its fight against Russia.
New York City – the nation’s capital According to US senators, this “historic” military and humanitarian aid package for Ukraine will aid the country in its struggle against Russian intrusions.
The Senate passed the aid package to Ukraine
On Thursday, the Senate passed the bill 86-11, with Sen. Joe Biden’s signature on it, making it official.
In the midst of a conflict that has lasted more than three months, analysts told Al Jazeera that the large aid package represents a major boost in US backing for Ukraine.
There has never been anything like this before in Europe’s current circumstances, says Elias Yousif, an analyst at Washington’s Stimson Center think tank.
For the following five months through September, the House Appropriations Committee estimates that the Act will provide $6 billion in military equipment, training, and financial support to Ukraine’s military.
Additionally, as part of the agreement, the United States will spend $9 billion replacing its weapons stockpiles in Ukraine and around $4 billion expanding its military presence in Europe.
Over $5 billion in additional food aid and rising food prices caused by the fighting will be utilized to help Ukraine’s government receive $8.76 billion from the United States.
It’s also set aside $119 million for assistance in locating and seizing the assets of the Russia-based Russian oligarch family.
Yousif told Al Jazeera that the type and scope of US security assistance have “escalated.” There are now rotary-wing aircraft, armed troop carriers, and even very advanced, unmanned aerial vehicles in place of single-man weapons.”
As of late February, the United States had pledged nearly $50 billion to Ukraine as a result of the conflict.
At roughly $3.8 billion a year, Israeli military aid falls far short of what the United States provides in terms of yearly security assistance.
Senior research fellow William Hartung of the Quincy Institute claims that “almost nothing comparable in recent history” exists.
It is now a matter of waiting to see what Moscow does. According to Hartung, Al Jazeera was informed. Considering the speed at which weapons are being deployed, as well as the sheer number and dearth of questions being raised about the policies being endorsed, we are treading on extremely dangerous territory.”
On Thursday, when the Senate voted on the bill, Biden visited Sweden’s Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson and Finland’s President Sauli Niinisto at the White House.
The United States is encouraging both of Europe’s countries to join NATO.
Biden praised the bill’s passage in the Senate
It revealed that the United States would send radars and artillery to Ukraine.
Vice President Joe Biden said in a White House statement, according to Reuters, “These weapons and equipment will travel directly to the front lines of freedom in Ukraine” and “underline our strong support for the heroic people of Ukraine as they defend their nation against Russia’s relentless aggression”.
NATO’s Atlantic expansion has gained strength since the collapse of the Soviet Union, as has legislative support for NATO expansion and Ukraine’s independence.
What did Senator Richard Durbin state in the senate?
Senator Richard Durbin stated in a Senate address on Wednesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “unprovoked attacks on Ukraine” lead him to believe that the Baltic states would have fallen to Putin’s aggressiveness if he had his way.
It wasn’t just the fortitude of the villagers that kept him at bay; according to Durbin, whose mother is from Lithuania, they also had many friends prepared to stand behind them, EU and NATO members.
Concerns have been raised about the bill’s high price tag by a number of US politicians. Senate Republicans led by Senator Rand Paul held up the bill’s passage for a week on concerns over the cost of the package. It was stated in an interview, “We cannot help Ukraine by threatening the American economy.”
What did Mark Cancian say about the new aid package?
At the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Mark Cancian said that the new aid package is “implicitly a signal that this is going to continue for a long time and the United States is going to continue to support Ukraine.”
The United States has sent about 18,000 troops to Eastern Europe since the crisis began. They had the help of German, British, and Canadian troops.
US defense companies will be able to build missiles more quickly and secure long-term supplies of rare earth metals because to $600 million buried in the Ukrainian aid package enacted by Congress, according to Cancian.
This led to an increase of $33 billion to $40 billion in congressional funding for Ukraine over the next five months.
He noted that the bill is “meant to show the degree of US investment in this struggle and the perceptions, in a few Western capitals, that Ukraine has strengthened its possibilities for conflict,” in sum.