WASHINGTON (AP) – President Joe Biden announced on Thursday an additional $ 800 million in military aid to help Ukraine fight back in its fierce but increasingly difficult battle against the Russian invasion, and he warned that Congress would have to approve more more help if the US is to continue its crucial support.
The new military package includes much-needed heavy artillery, 144,000 rounds of ammunition and drones for the escalating battle in the Donbass region of eastern Ukraine. It is based on approximately $ 2.6 billion in military aid that Biden previously approved.
The aid, Biden said, will be sent “directly to the front lines of freedom.”
“Putin is counting on us to lose interest,” Biden said. The Russian president is betting that “Western unity will break … and we will prove him wrong again.”
Biden stressed the need for the United States and Western allies to remain firm in their support for Ukraine amid signs that Americans may become more wary of the war.
A poll released Thursday by the Associated Press’s NORC Center for Public Affairs shows that Americans’ willingness to get involved has declined somewhat. About 32% say the United States should play a key role in the conflict. That’s less than 40% last month, although slightly higher than the 26% who said so in February. An additional 49% say the United States should play a secondary role.
Biden said the United States would also provide an additional $ 500 million in direct economic aid to the Ukrainian government. This raises total US economic support to $ 1 billion since the invasion of Russia nearly two months ago.
The president also announced that ships bound for Russia would be banned from US ports, although this seemed largely symbolic. Russian ships carry a small amount of cargo unloaded in the United States, and “I guess … a decent part of that is tankers carrying Russian oil, which is now banned anyway,” said Colin Grabow, a trade research fellow. . at the Cato Libertarian Institute.
Biden said the $ 6.5 billion in security aid that Congress approved last month as part of a $ 13.6 billion package for Ukraine could soon be “exhausted.” With the latest military aid announced on Thursday, Biden approved about $ 3.4 billion in military aid as of Feb. 24. The congressional sum also includes about $ 6.8 billion in direct economic aid for refugee care and economic aid to allies affected by the war – and additional funding for federal agencies to impose economic sanctions on Russia and protect against cyber threats.
“Next week, I will have to send a request to Congress for an additional budget to keep weapons and ammunition stationed without interruption,” Biden said.
Congress has signaled that it is receptive to further demands and expects that additional assistance will be needed for Ukrainians. But the issue can be intertwined with guerrilla battles over pandemic and immigration costs, complicating the way.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Has expressed readiness to consider more aid to Ukraine in recent weeks. “I think we have to say that we want the Ukrainians to win and we are ready to do everything we can to help them win,” McConnell said Monday in Shelbyville, Kentucky.
“We want to do more,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., Told reporters at the Capitol during a meeting with Ukrainian Prime Minister Denis Shmihal. She said lawmakers would learn more about Biden’s latest funding request the next day so that it could be considered as soon as possible. Next week.”
Biden did not specify how much additional funding he would ask for, adding that he was consulting with defense officials.
Biden spoke of the new aid and, more broadly, the situation in Ukraine, hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin declared victory in the strategic city of Mariupol. However, Putin has ordered his troops to risk no more losses by storming the last pocket of Ukrainian resistance on the country’s iconic battlefield.
In an exchange with reporters after his remarks, Biden called Russia’s claim to Mariupol “doubtful.”
Russian forces destroyed much of the southeastern port city, which has witnessed some of the war’s fiercest battles. According to Russian estimates, about 2,000 Ukrainian forces remain hidden in a sprawling steel plant, although Russian forces continue to strike the industrial site and repeatedly issue ultimatums for the surrender of Ukrainian forces.
Earlier this week, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said his country would send heavy artillery to Ukraine. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte told Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky that the Netherlands would send more heavy weapons, including armored vehicles.
The new US military aid is expected to include 72,155 mm howitzers, 144,000 artillery shells, 72 vehicles used to tow howitzers to battlefields, and more than 121 Phoenix Ghost tactical drones, as well as field equipment and spare parts.
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said the drones were developed by the Air Force in response to Ukrainian needs and manufactured by US company Aevex Aerospace, but he did not say whether the program began before Russia began its invasion on February 24. Kirby said the Phoenix Ghost is similar to the kamikaze-switched drones Switchblade that the Pentagon is already providing to Ukraine.
The 72 howitzers are in addition to the 18 announced last week that the United States transferred to Ukraine.
Biden’s decision to quadruple the number promised in a package of weapons, announced just last week, reflects what is emerging as a major land battle in the disputed Donbass region of eastern Ukraine.
The Russians have deployed additional artillery there in recent days as they seek to expand their offensive and try to take full control of Donbass after withdrawing from a failed attempt to take Kyiv, the capital. Heavy weapons, such as artillery, are expected to play a key role in fighting in the relatively closed Donbas region, where separatists backed by Ukraine and Russia have been fighting since 2014.
A senior US defense official said that the training of Ukrainian personnel on American 155 mm howitzers began in a European country outside Ukraine.
Reports of new aid came amid spring meetings between the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank this week, dominated by talks on how to manage the spillover from Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Prior to his speech, Biden met with Ukrainian Prime Minister Shmihal. The Ukrainian leader also met on Thursday with Finance Minister Janet Yellen and Pelosi.
Kristalina Georgieva, managing director of the International Monetary Fund, told a news conference Wednesday that officials in Ukraine’s finance ministry have estimated they will need $ 5 billion in international aid a month in the coming months to help cover basic government services. and maintaining the country’s economy. .
Yellen told a news conference after a meeting with Schmihal that economic aid sent by the United States and its allies “is just the beginning of what Ukraine will have to rebuild.” She added that this week she will discuss efforts to further help Ukraine with her Western counterparts.
“I think we are united in recognizing that we need to find ways to meet Ukraine’s needs,” Yellen said.
The Biden administration also announced a new program Thursday aimed at streamlining refugee applications for Ukrainians and others fleeing hostilities while they are still in Europe. The United States will no longer allow routine entry for asylum seekers on the US-Mexico border, as thousands have done.
The United States says it expects to receive up to 100,000 refugees from Ukraine, and about 15,000 have come, mostly through Mexico.
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Associated Press writers Ben Fox, Alan Fram, Fatima Hussein, Chris Megerian and Zeke Miller contributed to the report.
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