U.S. Senate votes on new Ukraine aid bill

Bipartisan bill excludes funding for border security proposed by White House

Democrats in the United States Senate are due to make a fresh attempt Thursday to restore funding to Ukraine in its fight against Russian invasion as Kyiv has urged the West to speed up and increase deliveries of artillery shells for fighting Moscow.

Party leaders elected to schedule a new vote for a bill on $95 billion in aid for Ukraine and Israel.

Democratic Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said the Senate would reconvene at noon on Thursday for the voting.

The previous bipartisan bill combining funding to secure the US southern border from migrants and military aid to the two allies failed in a vote on Wednesday as Republicans heeded their likely presidential candidate Donald Trump’s warning to reject it to avoid handing President Joe Biden an election win.

In Kyiv, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba mounted pressure for more military aid on European Union’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, in a meeting Wednesday.

“If you ask a soldier at the front what he needs most now, the answer will be shells,” Kuleba told Borrell, calling for “urgent steps” to increase deliveries of artillery shells.

Securing the shells has been a priority for Kyiv, which is burning through its reserves as Russia throws more manpower and resources at the frontlines almost two years into its invasion.

Kuleba also said Ukraine found infighting in the US Congress over the future of American aid “confusing” after Republican lawmakers resisted new support for the war-torn country.

Securing the shells has been a priority for Kyiv.

US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told a news conference in Brussels alongside North Atlantic Treaty Organization Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg that the US “can and will” deliver the needed aid. Stoltenberg said such a move was “vital.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his daily address following the latest Russian attack that killed four people and wounded 40 others that the country’s military will respond to every missile and drone strike from Moscow.

“And our task this year is not only to maximize our air shield and longrange capabilities of Ukraine, but also to inflict maximum systemic losses on Russia,” he said, after meeting with Borrell.

Ukraine’s commander-in-chief Valery Zaluzhny said Russia used drones, cruise, ballistic and anti-aircraft missiles in Wednesday’s barrage.

He said Russia fired 20 drones and 44 missiles in the morning attack — with Ukraine shooting down 15 drones and 29 missiles.

An 18-story residential building in Kyiv’s southern Golosiivsky district was struck in the attack and left almost 30,000 people in the capital temporarily without power.

Russia later said it had launched an aerial attack against Ukrainian “military industrial” facilities and reported it hit all its targets.

Moscow has repeatedly denied targeting civilian areas in Ukraine, despite several documented strikes on residential buildings and the United Nations saying at least 10,000 civilians — likely many more — have been killed since Russia invaded in February 2022.