The US Senate today, April 23 (April 24 in Kyiv), approved a bill to assist Ukraine. The document must now be signed by US President Joe Biden, according to the broadcast of the voting in the US Senate.
During the vote on the bill, which provides for assistance to Ukraine in the amount of $61 billion, in the final tally, 79 senators voted for.
8 senators voted against.
The US Senate approved aid to Ukraine
What the bill provides
This bill provides for the allocation of funds for aid to Ukraine totaling more than $60 billion. In particular, $49.9 billion is allocated for defense spending, $1.57 billion will be directed towards economic assistance, and another $400 million for border security and humanitarian demining.
At the same time, the bill provides for $7.8 billion in direct budget support, but this money will be provided as a loan. Its terms will be determined by a separate agreement.
RBC-Ukraine has already reported that this loan may be written off in the future. The President of the US will have such authority, but after the elections on November 5, 2024.
It is expected that the bill will be promptly signed by the President of the US. After this, Washington should allocate a new package of military assistance to Ukraine as soon as possible.
What could be in the new aid package from the US
Recently, it became known that the administration of US President Joe Biden is preparing a larger package of military assistance to Ukraine than usual. It is expected that the new assistance to Ukraine will include armored vehicles in addition to urgently needed artillery systems and air defense assets.
According to Western media reports, the package will include:
- Bradley fighting vehicles;
- Humvees;
- M113 armored personnel carriers;
- artillery;
- air defense systems;
- missiles.
Ukraine may also receive long-range ATACMS missiles.
US aid for Ukraine
Last week, the US House of Representatives passed a bill to fund aid to Ukraine. Now that it has been supported in the Senate, the bill will be sent to President Joe Biden for signing.
The provision of aid to Ukraine in the US has been delayed for several months. More details on why this happened and what influenced its adoption can be found in the article by RBC-Ukraine.
