Zelensky tweets thanks to Pelosi and US Congress for passing Ukraine aid package

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky tweeted his due to Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the remainder of the US Home of Representatives for its passage of a $40 billion navy and humanitarian assist pacakge for Ukraine on Tuesday night time.

“We’re trying ahead to consideration of this vital doc for us by the Senate,” Mr Zelensky wrote.

The Home handed the bundle by a vote of 368-57, with all dissenting votes coming from members of the Republican Occasion. If the bundle passes the Senate, as it’s anticipated to, it is going to take the US’s whole spending on Ukranian assist during the last two months past $53bn.

US lawmakers, at odds over nearly every little thing else, have largely rallied behind Ukraine since Russia launched its invasion of the nation on the finish of February. Since then, Mr Zelensky and the Ukranian armed forces have held out in opposition to a Russian assault that President Vladimir Putin appears set to proceed for the forseeable future.

Mr Zelensky has achieved his greatest to rally assist from rich allies within the West, addressing Congress in March, and President Joe Biden has pushed Congress to behave shortly to provide Ukraine with assist on a number of occassions. He has discovered loads of allies in Congress, together with Ms Pelosi, who visited Kyiv with a US delegation on the finish of April.

The passage of this newest assist bundle, the biggest up to now, got here whilst lawmakers on either side of the ideological divide have questioned why the US refuses to spend so decsively on urgent home issues like financial reduction for People fighting inflation and Covid-19 funding or whether or not the US ought to place any restrict on its assist to Ukraine.

Mr Biden had initally wished Ukranian assist and new funding to struggle the pandemic to bundled collectively within the invoice, however earlier this week relented — bowing to Republican stress and asking Congress to cross the help bundle earlier than attempting to cross new Covid-19 funding.

It didn’t take lengthy for the Home to behave. The $40bn it handed for Ukraine goes past the $33bn quantity that Mr Biden had initally requested.

In the meantime, the US’ funding for its Covid-19 response program — which incorporates funding for vaccines, remedies, and testing — is operating dry simply because the nation is dealing with one other surge fueled by Omicron varients of the virus. Well being officers have estimated that the nation might see as many as 100 million new Covid-19 instances this fall and winter.

Mr Zelensky shortly confirmed his appreciation for the US’ assist. The funding represents the US’ largest international assist funding in many years, and can go to the Ukranian navy and authorities, the European Command, emergency meals help, refugee assist, and extra.

The White Home this week rejected the place taken by Massachusettes consultant Seth Moulton that the US is preventing a proxy battle with Russia over Ukraine, although Mr Biden himself steered that Mr Putin is a battle legal.