U.S. may hike Ukraine war chest to $114B
Republican vote faces hurdle from Donald Trump’s opposition.
Fifty billion euros in military support promised Thursday by European Union leaders to Ukraine could more than double next week when the United States Senate vote on a border security package that includes $60-billion funding for Kyiv’s war with Russia.
Chuck Schumer, the Democratic leader of the upper chamber of the US Congress, said an initial vote on the bipartisan bill would take place on Wednesday at the latest -- although its prospects for being signed into law look vanishingly small.
Senators have been negotiating for months on a deal to combat illegal immigration, with Republicans insisting on increased border security in return for approving a White House request for more than $60 billion for pro-Western Kyiv, which saw its invasion by Russia greatly expanded in 2022.
Mike Johnson, the speaker in the Republican-led House of Representatives, has declared the package “dead on arrival,” claiming without seeing the text that it does not go far enough in tackling a record influx of undocumented migrants across the southern border.
Former President Donald Trump — who is running for reelection and is desperate to avoid Biden getting a legislative win — has been speaking out loudly against the bill, which also includes money for Israel in its conflict with Hamas militants.
Trump enjoys near-universal support among House Republicans, and his opposition is expected to kill the package’s prospects of reaching Biden’s desk.
Meanwhile, President Joe Biden called EU chief Ursula von der Leyen on Thursday to thank her for the bloc’s approval of $54 billion in aid for Ukraine, the White House said.
Von der Leyen “emphasized the critical importance of sustained US support to Ukraine, which has been indispensable to Ukraine’s efforts to defend its people, cities and soldiers in its fight for freedom,” according to the White House readout of the call.
Ukraine attacks
Meanwhile, Ukraine said Friday that 40,000 people were without power after a barrage of two dozen Russian drones damaged energy infrastructure in the center of the country.
The air force said Moscow had launched 24 Iranian-designed drones at Ukraine, where a national energy provider said its facilities in the Dnipropetrovsk region were damaged, adding that defense systems had downed 11.
“This led to a power outage for more than 40,000 subscribers,” the head of the region, Sergiy Lysak, said on social media, adding that two mines were without power.
In Beryslav, near the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson, Russian air strikes killed two French nationals and wounded three other foreigners on Thursday Ukrainian officials said.
Kherson region governor Oleksandr Prokudin wrote on Telegram that the victims were humanitarian volunteers.
Russian air strikes killed two French nationals.