The U.S. Senate yesterday finally approved an aid package for Ukraine worth nearly $40 billion. Most of the amount will be spent on weapons, BBC reports.
The bill will be sent to U.S. President Joe Biden for signing. He is expected to sign it within the next few hours so that the aid allocation to Ukraine can begin immediately.
What the allocated funds will be spent on:
$6 billion — defense aid (training, equipment and weapons);
$8.7 billion will be used to resupply U.S. weapons sent to Ukraine;
$3.9 billion will be used to help the United States European Command;
$5 billion — to address the global food crisis;
$11 billion will be the so-called Presidential Drawdown Authority, which the President Joe Biden can use without approval of the Congress;
Nearly $9 billion will be spent on economic aid to Kyiv;
About $900 million will be used to support Ukrainian refugees.
The adopted document will simplify the procedure of arms transfer to Ukraine: U.S. arms can be leased to Ukraine and other Eastern European countries.
Taking into account the bill, the total U.S. aid to Kyiv over the last two months will amount to about $54 billion.
However, such inter-party unity can end quickly. Republicans who opposed the package for Ukraine said they were concerned about the constant huge costs of helping to wage a war in another country — especially at a time when Americans themselves are going through difficult economic times.
