Military aid en route to Ukraine after President Biden signed legislative package

– This means crucial support for America’s partners so that they can defend themselves against threats that could shake their sovereignty, said Biden.

The US president said that the US will begin shipments of military equipment fairly immediately. This was quickly confirmed by the Ministry of Defence, which stated that air defense and ammunition are already on their way.

The signing means that a months-long tug-of-war with the Republicans is over. The decision has a framework of 95 billion dollars for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. Ukraine gets by far the largest part of the pot, a whopping 61 billion dollars.

Is underway

– We deliver when it is required of us. We found together and we got it done. Now it is important to pick up the pace, and we are already underway, said Biden. He added that the decision makes the United States and the world a safer place and that it continues American leadership.

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The Pentagon stated after only a short time that the first shipment will include equipment worth a billion dollars. We are talking about air defense batteries, artillery ammunition, tens of Himars rocket launchers and several hundred thousand rounds of ammunition.

Tanks

The package also includes several thousand armored vehicles, among them 31 tanks of the Abrams type, 45 T-72B tanks and over 200 armored personnel carriers of the Bradley type.

It remains unclear whether new supplies can enable the Ukrainians to recoup what they have lost in recent months, but the decision is undoubtedly seen as a vitamin injection for hard-pressed forces on the battlefield.

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The United States is Ukraine’s most important military supporter, but Congress has not been able to agree on an aid package of any size for almost a year and a half.

Election campaign

The financing of the war in Ukraine has become an overarching theme in the domestic election campaign, and with former President Donald Trump as an unpredictable mentor for many representatives in the Republican Party, the process has been completely deadlocked.

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The leader of the House of Representatives, Mike Johnson, linked Ukraine to the flow of migrants in the southern United States and, at the urging of Trump, demanded that the Biden administration act.

After Easter, the picture changed, and Johnson divided the proposal into four packages and presented them for a vote, to strong opposition from the most extreme on the right wing.