The US Senate voted 86-11 Thursday to approve a US$40
billion Ukraine aid package. This would replenish US stockpiles of weapons
transferred to Ukraine, as well as allocate billions of dollars to help the
Ukrainian government continue operating and provide humanitarian assistance.
President Biden is expected to immediately sign the
legislation, which exceeds his US$33 billion request to Congress.
The House passed the legislation overwhelmingly earlier this
month by a vote of 368-57.
The bill would authorize the transfer of American weapons
and equipment to Ukraine and provide $9 billion to replenish depleted US
weapons stockpiles. It would also provide nearly US$9 billion for continued
operations of the Ukrainian government and
US$4 billion in international disaster assistance.
Pentagon Chief Lloyd Austin and Secretary of State Antony
Blinken had urged Congress last week to pass the bill by Thursday if the US
wanted to continue sending aid to Ukraine at the current pace.
The administration had predicted that the US$100 million
leftover in presidential drawdown authority—which allows the Pentagon to send
weapons from its own stockpile — would last through the middle of May.
Eleven
Republican senators led by Sen. Rand Paul voted against the measure. These were:
Marsha Blackburn, John Boozman, Mike Braun, Mike Crapo, Bill Hagerty, Josh
Hawley, Mike Lee, Cynthia Lummis, Roger Marshall and Tommy Tuberville.
The Biden administration also announced US$100
million in military assistance to Ukraine on Thursday; moments after the Senate
sent a US$40 billion supplemental aid package to the president’s desk.
The equipment will include additional artillery, radars and
other equipment to Ukraine, President Biden said in a statement following
passage of the Ukraine aid.
In a separate statement, Secretary of State Antony
Blinken said the weapons will be coming from the Pentagon’s existing
inventories.
“These weapons and equipment will go directly to the front
lines of freedom in Ukraine, and reiterate our strong support for the brave
people of Ukraine as they defend their country against Russia’s ongoing
aggression,” Biden said.
Thursday’s
package is the 10th shipment of weapons to Ukraine under presidential drawdown
authority, which allows the Pentagon to dig into its existing stockpiles. It
also brings the total military assistance that the U.S. has provided to the
country to US$3.9 billion since Russia’s invasion began.
The
equipment includes: eighteen 155 mm howitzers; eighteen tactical vehicles to
tow those howitzers as well as eighteen artillery tubes; three AN/TPU 36
counter-artillery radars; and field equipment and spare parts, the
Pentagon said. The US has previously provided shipments of this equipment
to Ukraine.
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said the weapons
will start to flow “very, very soon.”
“I cannot give you an exact date of when it’s all going to
show up in Ukraine, but you can imagine, having seen us do this in the past,
that we’re not going to sit on our hands and will start flowing that stuff
immediately,” he said.
Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin urged Congress
last week to advance the supplemental aid bill by Thursday in order to continue
sending security assistance at the current pace.
Kirby said the package uses up the remaining US$100 million
of the US$3.5 billion in drawdown authority that was passed in March as part of
a US$1.5 trillion bill to fund the government through September.
The US$40
billion supplemental, which Biden is expected to sign, includes US$9 billion
for the Pentagon to replenish the weapons it sent to Ukraine, exceeding the
administration’s request of US$5 billion.
