Biden: We’re sending weapons to Ukraine this week / “OK, we did it. Now go and win the fight,” the US Senate Majority Leader tells Zelenski

US President Joe Biden said on Tuesday that the United States would “start sending weapons and equipment to Ukraine this week” after Congress passed a long-awaited aid package for Kiev, reports AFP.

“I will sign this bill into law and address it to the American people as soon as it reaches my desk tomorrow (Wednesday),” he said in a White House statement.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked the US Senate on Wednesday for approving $61 billion in military and economic aid to his country.

Zelensky: “Essential tools for faster restoration of a just peace”

“Thank you to Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Republican Leader Mitch McConnell for their steadfast leadership in advancing this bipartisan legislation, and to all US senators from both parties who voted for it,” he wrote on social media shortly after the massive passage aid package.

The United States has been Ukraine’s main military backer in its war against Russia, but the new aid package, which includes essential military supplies, has been blocked in Congress for months. The Ukrainian army is facing a severe shortage of weapons and new recruits as Moscow exerts constant pressure from the east.

“I also appreciate President Biden’s support and hope that the law will be enacted soon and that the next military aid program will live up to the determination we have always seen in our negotiations,” Zelenskiy added.

In his opinion, “Ukraine’s long-range capabilities, artillery and air defense are essential tools for the faster restoration of a just peace.”

“OK, I made it. Now go and win the fight”

“This national security bill is one of the most important measures Congress has taken in a very long time to protect American security and the security of Western democracy,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said after the vote. , according to Reuters.

Schumer said she left a message for Zelenskiy on Tuesday night, saying, “OK, I got it. Now go and win the fight”.

The aid package could be the last approved for Ukraine until after the November elections, when the stakes are the White House, the House of Representatives and a third of the Senate.

Much of the opposition to the security assistance in both the House of Representatives and the Senate has come from Republicans with close ties to former US President Donald Trump, a skeptic of aid to Ukraine who has emphasized policies ” America First” as he seeks a second term.

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, a strong supporter of aid to Ukraine, expressed regret over the delay, largely because of objections from hard-line Republicans to adding more to the $113 billion that Washington has authorized them for Kiev since Russia began its full-scale invasion in February 2022.

“I think we’re past the stage of the isolationist movement,” McConnell told a news conference.