kyiv, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian and Western leaders have welcomed a desperately needed aid package passed by the U.S. House of Representatives, with the Kremlin saying passage of the bill would “further ruin” Ukraine and cause more of deaths.
The House quickly approved $95 billion in foreign aid for Ukraine, Israel and other U.S. allies in a rare Saturday session, as Democrats and Republicans united after months of resistance far-right protest against renewed US support to repel the Russian invasion.
Thanks to an overwhelming vote, the $61 billion in aid to Ukraine was passed in minutes. Many Democrats applauded in the House and waved Ukrainian flags.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who had warned his country would lose the war without American funding, said he was grateful for the decision by American lawmakers.
“We appreciate any sign of support for our country and its independence, its people and its way of life, which Russia is trying to bury under the rubble,” he wrote on the social network X.
“America demonstrated its leadership from the first days of this war. It is exactly this type of leadership that is needed to maintain a rules-based international order and predictability for all nations,” he said.
The Ukrainian president stressed that his country’s “front-line fighters” would benefit from this aid program.
One of these “warriors” is infantryman Oleksandr, fighting around Avdiivka, the town in the Donetsk region that Ukraine lost to Russia in February after months of intense fighting.
“For us it is very important to have this support from the United States and our partners,” Oleksandr told The Associated Press. He did not give his full name for security reasons.
“With this we can stop them and reduce our losses. This is the first step to having the possibility of liberating our territory.”
Ammunition shortages linked to the aid blockage over the past six months have led Ukrainian military commanders to ration shells, a disadvantage Russia has taken advantage of this year by seizing the town of Avdiivka and currently moving towards the town of Chasiv Yar, also in the Donetsk region. .
“The Russians are attacking us in waves: we are exhausted, we must leave our positions. This is repeated several times,” Oleksandr said. “Not having enough ammunition means we can’t cover the area it’s our responsibility to hold when they attack us. »
Other Western leaders welcomed the passage of the aid package.
“Ukraine uses weapons supplied by NATO allies to destroy Russian combat capabilities. This makes us all safer, in Europe and North America,” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg wrote on X.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said “Ukraine deserves all the support it can get against Russia.”
In Russia, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called the approval of aid to Ukraine “expected and predictable.”
The move “will make the United States of America richer, further ruin Ukraine and lead to the death of even more Ukrainians, the fault of the Kiev regime,” Peskov was quoted as saying by the Russian News Agency. Ria Novosti.
“The new aid program will not save, but on the contrary, kill thousands and thousands more people, prolong the conflict and bring even more grief and devastation,” said Leonid Slutsky, chairman of the International Affairs Committee. of the Russian State Duma. wrote on Telegram.
The entire aid program will be submitted to the US Senate, which could adopt it as early as Tuesday. President Joe Biden has promised to sign it immediately.
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Morton reported from London.
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Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
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