In a rare historic weekend vote, the U.S. Congress on Saturday passed the Ukraine Security Supplemental Appropriations Act with a vote of 311-112, TURAN's Washington correspondent reports from the Capitol Hill. Many House members, primarily Democrats, cheered and waved Ukrainian flags during the vote.
The $95 billion package contains $61 billion for Ukraine and regional partners – about the same that was included in the Senate bill.
Of that total, about $23 billion would be used to replenish US weapons, stockpiles and facilities, and more than $11 billion would fund current US military operations in the region.
Nearly $14 billion included in the bill would help Ukraine buy advanced weapons systems and other defense equipment.
The House also separately approved a bill that will unfreeze Russian frozen assets (6bn) and transfer them to Ukraine.
The House also passed the Israel Security Supplemental with a vote of 366-58, which includes $26.4 billion to aid Israel.
Both bills are now headed to the Senate before they can hit President Biden's desk.
"I urge the Senate to quickly send this package to my desk so that I can sign it into law and we can quickly send weapons and equipment to Ukraine to meet their urgent battlefield needs" Biden said in a statement Saturday afternoon.
Politics
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The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders (OPHRD), a joint program of the World Organization against Torture (OMCT) and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), has called for the urgent release of activist Rufat Safarov from prison in Azerbaijan. It has launched a campaign in support of the Azerbaijani human rights defender. https://www.omct.org/en/resources/urgent-interventions/arbitrary-detention-and-judicial-harassment-against-rufat-safarov
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This year, the laureate of the annual Nargiz Prize, awarded for efforts in the fight for democracy, was Akif Gurbanov, chairman of the board of the Resplatforma (Platform of the III Republic) movement, who is under arrest.
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The U.S. will prohibit the issuing of visas for nearly a dozen more individuals responsible for undermining democracy in Georgia, bringing the total number to over 100, TURAN's Washington correspondent reports.
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The President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, has expressed condolences to the President of Germany, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, following the tragic incident in the city of Magdeburg. "We are deeply shocked by the news of the deaths and injuries resulting from the tragic incident that took place at the Christmas market in Magdeburg," the message reads.
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