Biden Askes Congress For $33B in Ukraine Aid

President Biden on Thursday asked Congress to authorize $33 billion in weapons and other aid to support Ukraine in its fight against Russian aggression, TURAN's Washington correspondent reports.

"We're not attacking Russia. We're helping Ukraine defend itself against Russian aggression, and just as Putin chose to launch this brutal invasion, he could make the choice to end this brutal invasion" - Biden said, speaking from the White House.

The massive $33 billion request is what the administration says is necessary to help Ukraine’s military defeat a sustained Russian attack over the coming months and address the global impacts of the war.

The funding will last through the current fiscal year, which ends in September. an administration official told TURAN's correspondent.

Here's what is in Biden's $33B supplemental funding request for Ukraine:

- $20.4 billion for military and security assistance, including $5 billion for weapons and other military aid;

- $8.5 billion in economic assistance

- $3 billion for additional humanitarian assistance and food security and targeted funding

"The assistance includes funds that will allow us to ensure Ukraine has the weapons it needs to wage this fight, replenish our own stockpiles of key systems, help other countries to shift away from A dependence on Russian weapons, enable Ukraine's government to continue performing basic functions, address food insecurity exacerbated by Russia's war of aggression, and support Ukrainian refugees and the countries that are providing them sanctuary," an administration official told reporters speaking on background from the White House.

The funds will provide Ukrainians with an additional and uninterrupted flow of artillery, armored vehicles, anti-armor and anti-air capabilities.

The package will also forge a stronger NATO security posture through support for U.S. troop deployments on NATO territory, including transportation of personnel and equipment, temporary duty, special pay, airlift, weapons system sustainment and medical support, officials said.

Biden in his speech made it clear that the cost of this fight "is not cheap”.  “But caving to aggression is going to be more costly if we allow it to happen. We either back [the] Ukrainian people as they defend their country, or we stand by as the Russians continue their atrocities and aggression in Ukraine,” he added.

As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is dragging into its third month, Moscow is focusing its efforts on an offensive in eastern Ukraine, while its forces are advancing slowly in the region due to logistics problems and other issues, a senior defense official told reporters.

In southern Ukraine, meanwhile, the U.S. has observed some Russian forces leaving the heavily bombed port city of Mariupol, which has still not fallen to the Kremlin, to head northwest toward Zaporizhzhia.

"We can report that there's been more than 1,900 missile launches since the beginning of the invasion," the official said, citing most of the strikes having been in Mariupol and the Donbas region.

The official also said Russian progress is "slow and uneven," with Ukrainian troops making gains in some areas while Russian forces make gains in others.

The Russian military has not overcome their problems with logistics and sustainment that plagued them on their strike toward Ukraine's capital of Kyiv in February and March, the official said. In addition, due to the effective resistance from Ukrainian forces, the Russians are fearful of outrunning their supply lines.

"Just from logistics alone, they're only able to sustain several-kilometers-or-so progress on any given day ... because they don't want to run out too far ahead of their logistics and sustainment lines," the official said.

Alex Raufoglu

Washington D.C.