The US Congress approved the allocation of almost $40 billion to Ukraine
The House of Representatives of the US Congress approved a bill on additional assistance to Ukraine in the amount of $ 40 billion. If approved in the upper house, the document will be sent for signature to US President Joe Biden, who previously asked lawmakers for $7 billion less to support Ukraine. "Newspaper.Ru" tells what American aid, comparable in size to Russia's annual military budget, will go to.
$40 billion
The bill provides for the allocation of funds for military, economic and humanitarian assistance to Kiev. $6 billion should go to the provision of weapons and security assistance, $8.7 billion - for economic assistance and financing of the work of state services of Ukraine, $5 billion - for food aid to Ukraine and other countries of the world, and another $900 million will go to support Ukrainian refugees. In addition, $3.9 billion will be allocated to strengthen American troops in Europe.
The broadcast of the meeting of the House of Representatives was conducted on the website of the lower house of the American parliament. 368 congressmen voted in support of the initiative, 57 opposed it. Now the bill will be submitted to the Senate of the Congress. The leader of the Democratic majority in the Senate, Chuck Schumer (from New York state), promised to organize a vote on the initiative as soon as possible.
The White House approved the adoption of the bill by the House of Representatives. The total amount of aid to Ukraine exceeded the $33 billion previously requested by the US president.
"The additional resources included in this bill will allow us to send more weapons, such as artillery and armored vehicles, as well as ammunition to Ukraine. They will also help us replenish our arsenals and support US troops on the territory of (countries. - "Newspaper.En") NATO," said the press secretary of the President of the United States, Jen Psaki.
Biden's Demands
On the eve it became known that US President Joe Biden called on the US Congress to immediately approve additional appropriations for assistance to Ukraine and submit a corresponding bill to him for signature within the next few days.
"I call on Congress to immediately pass a bill on additional Ukrainian funding and submit it to my desk in the next few days," Biden said in an address to parliamentarians.
He requested $33 billion last week to continue military, economic and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine. 20.4 billion of this package were provided "for additional military and security assistance" to Kiev, and 8.5 billion for economic assistance to Ukraine.
The President of the United States noted that he had practically exhausted the funds for assistance to Ukraine, which had previously been provided to him by congressmen.
In addition, Biden signed the lend-Lease law for Ukraine, simplifying the provision of military assistance to it. The document was approved by both chambers of the American Parliament. The law temporarily removes a number of "requirements related to the president's powers to lend defense equipment if it is intended for the government of Ukraine or other Eastern European countries that have been subjected to Russian invasion."
The United States already practiced lend-lease during World War II, when it supplied weapons and strategic materials to allies in the anti-Hitler coalition, including the Soviet Union.
Is $40 billion a lot or a little?
At the end of April, SIPRI (Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, Stockholm International Peace Research Institute), a leading center for the study of military conflicts, presented a report in which it analyzed the military expenditures of Moscow and Kiev.
According to SIPRI, Russia increased its military spending by 2.9% in 2021 to $65.9 billion. This was the third year of growth in a row, and in 2021, Russia's military spending reached 4.1% of GDP.
"High revenues from oil and gas have helped Russia to increase its military spending. These costs decreased between 2016 and 2019. After that, they began to increase," Lucy Bero-Sudro, director of the SIPRI military spending and arms production program, is quoted in the report.
The document stressed that Russia has recently paid great attention to the development of missile weapons and is actively using them during the conflict in Ukraine.
In addition, SIPRI analysts noted that Ukraine's military spending has increased by 72% since the annexation of Crimea to Russia in 2014. In 2021, expenditures accounted for 3.2% of the country's GDP, reaching $5.9 billion.
"Despite the colossal increase in military spending, before the conflict, the United States and its partners were afraid to supply Ukraine with heavy weapons. Largely due to systemic corruption. There was no certainty that the weapons would not get to the black market," the American Defense News portal notes.
But soon the situation changed. On April 21, 2022, US President Joe Biden announced the allocation of a large package of military assistance to Ukraine in the amount of $ 800 million. Eight days before that, the United States also allocated $800 million in aid to Kiev. In total, the United States has helped Ukraine eight times. The total amount of US military aid officially allocated to Kiev for all packages has reached $3.35 billion, and since March 2021 - $ 4 billion.
Maria Shustrova
