The US House of Representatives on Thursday passed a bill to provide Ukraine with billions in additional military aid and increase sanctions on Russia, a move that comes as the more than four-year-old war between Russia and Ukraine is escalating.
The Ukraine Support Act passed in a vote of 226-195, with 18 Republicans joining Democrats in supporting the effort. Just one Democrat, Rep. Ilhan Omar (MN), voted against the bill.
The legislation was introduced last year by Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY), the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and, according to media reports, would provide Ukraine with over $1 billion in military and reconstruction aid. The legislation states that it will make up to $8 billion in direct loans available for Ukraine and the US’s NATO allies.
The bill also includes $250 million for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, a US state-funded media outlet, and authorizes it to open “new bureaus to help expand its ability to reach audiences on the periphery of the Russian Federation.”
The bill was able to be brought to the floor after enough Republicans signed a discharge petition, and the passage of the legislation is seen as a rebuke of President Trump, who has continued fueling the proxy war in Ukraine, but mostly through a new NATO initiative, under which US allies pay for US weapons being shipped to Ukraine.
The passage of the bill comes after Russia launched a major drone and missile attack across Ukraine on Tuesday, killing at least 22 people. Russia said the strikes were a response to the increase in civilian casualties in Ukraine’s drone attacks, which included a recent attack on a college in Luhansk that killed 21 students. Ukraine hit back on Wednesday with a massive drone swarm that killed at least two emergency workers in Russia and included attacks on St. Petersburg as the city was starting its annual economic forum.
