LAST UPDATE | 10 May 2022
US LAWMAKERS ARE set to vote on a $40 billion aid package for Ukraine as Washington warned Russia was likely girding for a long conflict with its neighbor.
The defense, humanitarian and economic funding should pass comfortably, with the two parties having reached an agreement on the details, and it will likely move quickly through Congress.
“Time is of the essence – and we cannot afford to wait,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a letter to her Democratic colleagues.
“With this aid package, America sends a resounding message to the world of our unwavering determination to stand with the courageous people of Ukraine until victory is won.
Congressional leaders struck a deal yesterday to release $6.8 billion more than the $33 billion previously requested by the White House to help the Eastern European nation ward off Moscow’s invasion.
The financial boost would include an extra $3.4 billion for both military and humanitarian assistance on top of the funding requested by the administration.
If the package passes as planned, US spending to bolster Ukraine’s defenses against Russia’s invasion and address the ensuing humanitarian crisis will soar to around $54 billion.
The action comes as a top US official warned that Russian President Vladimir Putin is preparing for a long war that may not end with Russian victory in the east.
“We assess President Putin is preparing for prolonged conflict in Ukraine during which he still intends to achieve goals beyond the Donbas,” Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines said at a hearing on Capitol Hill.
She added that Putin was counting on US and EU resolve to weaken as the conflict continues to cause food shortages and inflation, including spiraling energy prices.
Covid aid complications
The House of Representatives was due to vote on the legislation later today, likely followed by the Senate at the end of the week or next week.
The Democratic leadership had hoped to tie the Ukraine money to $10 billion in new funding for Covid-19 tests, therapeutics and vaccines, with the United States experiencing a new spike in cases as it nears one million deaths.
But they decided against the move as they were unwilling to get drawn into another fight over border control.
Republicans stopped the Covid aid package last month, demanding an amendment vote to keep in place Title 42, the pandemic-related provision used to deny asylum requests and allow the quick expulsion of migrants.
With the policy due to end on 23 May, Democrats are reluctant to allow a vote, as several of their moderate lawmakers, and those in tough re-election fights, would likely vote with Republicans.
President Joe Biden said in a statement yesterday he was prepared to accept the decoupling of Ukraine and Covid aid, with “approximately 10 days” to go until the current funding runs out,
Two senators – Republican Lindsey Graham and Democrat Richard Blumenthal – unveiled a resolution today calling on Secretary of State Antony Blinken to designate Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism.
“If there is anybody who embodies terrorism, totalitarianism and torture, it is Vladimir Putin,” Blumenthal said at a news conference.
The White House has so far resisted calls to add Russia to the list, which currently features Cuba, Iran, North Korea and Syria, as Russia is already facing many of the consequences a terror sponsor designation would bring.
Graham said however the label would make clear how strongly the United States supports Ukraine in its effort to repel the Russian invasion.
Director of National Intelligence Haines said today that Putin is expected to become more unpredictable and could order martial law in Russia to support his ambitions in Ukraine.
Putin’s aims are greater than Russian military capabilities, and that “likely means the next few months could see us moving along a more unpredictable and potentially escalatory trajectory,” Haines told a Senate hearing.
“The current trend increases the likelihood that President Putin will turn to more drastic means, including imposing martial law, reorienting industrial production, or potentially escalatory military options to free up the resources needed to achieve his objectives,” she said.
Haines also said Putin is not likely to order the use of nuclear weapons unless the Russian homeland faces an “existential threat.”
Haines said the Russian leader will not end the war with the Donbas campaign and is determined to build a land bridge to Transnistria in Moldova.
“Putin most likely also judges that Russia has a greater ability and willingness to endure challenges than his adversaries, and he is probably counting on US and EU resolve to weaken as food shortages, inflation and energy prices get worse,” Haines said.
Ukrainian officials said today that the bodies of 44 civilians have been found in the rubble of a building destroyed by Russia.
It comes as Ukraine’s vital Black Sea port of Odessa is repeatedly bombed, including by hypersonic missiles.
The civilians were inside a five-storey building that collapsed in Izyum in the Kharkiv region in March, said Oleh Synehuboy, the head of Kharkiv’s regional administration.
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