Photo: Reuters
A massive foreign aid package of $95 billion was easily passed by the US Congress. The passage of the bill, which comes amid Russian troop overruns and Kiev’s military supply shortages, clears the way for tens of billions of dollars in new US military aid to Ukraine.
On Tuesday night, the Senate, the upper house of the US Congress, approved the combined package of four bills by a vote of 79-18. Earlier on Saturday, the lower house of Congress passed the bill.
Most of this package is military aid earmarked for Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan and US Indo-Pacific partners.
After receiving Senate approval, the bill will now go to President Joe Biden for signature. Biden said he will sign the bill on Wednesday. The bill will become US law with Biden’s signature.
President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked US lawmakers for approving this ‘important’ aid for Ukraine.
According to Reuters, the largest part of the aid package, $61 billion, will go to Ukraine; A second tranche of $26 billion will go to Israel and humanitarian aid to civilians in conflict zones around the world, and a third tranche of $8.12 billion will go to the Indo-Pacific region to ‘counter Communist China’.
Another bill in Part IV of the package includes a possible ban on the Chinese-controlled social media app TikTok. It also includes measures to send seized Russian assets to Ukraine and impose new sanctions on Iran.
Two US officials told Reuters that the Biden administration is already preparing to send a $1 billion military aid package to Ukraine. The aid package includes military vehicles, Stinger missiles used in air defense, high-speed artillery rocket systems, 155 mm artillery shells, anti-tank tow and javelin munitions, and field-ready weapons.
This could be the last military aid package approved by the US Congress for Ukraine until after the US presidential election in November.
It was not immediately clear what impact the money earmarked for Israel in the aid package would have on the Gaza war. Israel already receives billions of dollars in annual US security aid. However, the country recently came under direct Iranian airstrikes for the first time.
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