President Biden is asking Congress for $33bn in military, economic and humanitarian assistance to support Ukraine, a significant ramping up of aid.
“The cost of this fight is not cheap, but caving to aggression is going to be more costly,” Biden said. “It’s critical this funding gets approved and as quickly as possible.”
The proposal includes more than $20 billion in military aid, $8.5 billion in economic aid and $3 billion in humanitarian aid.
The assistance package, which heads to Congress for consideration, would be more than twice as large as the initial $13.6 billion in defense and economic aid for Ukraine and Western allies enacted last month.
The request comes as international tensions are growing as Russia cuts off gas supplies to two NATO allies, Poland and Bulgaria after they rejected Russia’s President Vladimir Putin’s ultimatum to pay in rubles, rather than euros.
“We will not let Russia intimidate or blackmail their way out of these sanctions. We will not allow them to use their oil and gas to avoid consequences for their aggression,” Biden said.
Biden will also ask Congress for new Russia sanctions enforcement to strengthen U.S. authority to hold the Kremlin’s kleptocracy. “We’re going to seize their yachts, their luxury homes and other ill-begotten gains of Putin’s kleptocracy,” Biden said.
