US House of Representatives approves $61 billion aid package for Ukraine

The US House of Representatives approved the allocation of a $61 billion (€57 billion) aid package to Ukraine Saturday, despite bitter objections from Republican hardliners.

The Ukraine aid package was approved in a vote that was split 311-112, with 210 Democrats and 101 Republicans voting for the measure, while 112, all Republicans, voted against it.

Three bills were under consideration in total, accounting for aid worth some $95 billion: $61 billion for Ukraine, plus aid to Israel and US allies in the Asia-Pacific region, chiefly Taiwan. Those too were approved by a majority of members of the House. The House also adopted a fourth bill on confiscating Russian assets and handing those assets over to Ukraine.

Under the bill, the US President will write off 50% of Ukraine’s debt for financial and military aid.

It will now come before the Senate, where Democrats make up the majority and have promised to rush through the aid package. It must then be signed into law by President Joe Biden, who also said he would do so without delay.

Both Politico and the Washington Post reported Friday that the Pentagon had already prepared a detailed aid package to Ukraine, saying that once signed into law, the delivery of ammunition to the Ukrainian army would take less than a week.

Washington’s last aid package to Kyiv, worth $250 million (€234 million), was issued in December. Republicans and Democrats had been unable to agree on the $61 billion aid package since the autumn.

Amid fears that his country was running dangerously low on ammunition, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked his American allies for their support. Earlier this month, Bloomberg wrote that Washington had no plan B beyond this package.