KYIV, Ukraine, April 21, (AP): Ukrainian and Western leaders welcomed a desperately needed aid package passed by the US House of Representatives, as the Kremlin warned the passage of the bill would "further ruin” Ukraine and cause more deaths.
The House swiftly approved $95 billion in foreign aid for Ukraine, Israel and other US allies in a rare Saturday session as Democrats and Republicans banded together after months of hard-right resistance over renewed American support for repelling Russia’s invasion.
With an overwhelming vote, the $61 billion in aid for Ukraine passed in a matter of minutes. Many Democrats cheered on the House floor and waved Ukrainian flags.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who had warned that his country would lose the war without US funding, said that he was grateful for the decision of US lawmakers.
"We appreciate every sign of support for our country and its independence, people and way of life, which Russia is attempting to bury under the rubble,” he wrote on social media site X.
"America has demonstrated its leadership since the first days of this war. Exactly this type of leadership is required to maintain a rules-based international order and predictability for all nations,” he said.
The Ukrainian president noted that his country’s "warriors on the front lines” would feel the benefit of the aid package.
Other Western leaders also lauded the aid package.
"Ukraine is using the weapons provided by NATO Allies to destroy Russian combat capabilities. This makes us all safer, in Europe & North America,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg wrote on X.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that "Ukraine deserves all the support it can get against Russia.”
Her statement was echoed by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who called it "a strong signal in these times.”
"We stand with the Ukrainians fighting for their free, democratic and independent country,” Scholz posted on X.
In Russia, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called the approval of aid to Ukraine "expected and predictable.”
The decision "will make the United States of America richer, further ruin Ukraine and result in the deaths of even more Ukrainians, the fault of the Kyiv regime,” Peskov was quoted as saying by Russian news agency Ria Novosti.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova also took to social media to speak against the aid package.
"The allocation of military assistance by the United States to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan will aggravate the global crisis: military assistance to the Kyiv regime is direct sponsorship of terrorist activities,” she wrote on Telegram.