Ukraine’s President Thankful For $61 Billon US Aid Package, But Challenges Remain
By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
WASHINGTON/KYIV/BUDAPEST (Worthy News) – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked the United States on Wednesday after President Joe Biden signed a $95 billion foreign aid package that includes about $61 billion in military assistance for Kyiv.
“Today’s American military aid package for Ukraine is vital. I thank all Americans who work in defense enterprises and every state that manufactures weapons that are now really protecting democracy and our way of life,” Zelensky wrote on social media platform X.
Zelensky pledged to “make every effort to compensate for the half-year spent in debates and doubts” as his army struggles to keep out Russian invaders.
Earlier in the day, wearing a U.S.-Ukrainian flag pin and speaking from the White House, Biden said it was a “good day for America, a good day for Ukraine, and a good day for world peace.”
Biden said the aid package he signed is “going to make America safer. It’s going to make the world safer. And it continues America’s leadership in the world.”
The package also includes $26 billion for Israel and $8 billion for the Indo-Pacific.
TIKTOK BAN?
Separately, the package includes a bill that could eventually lead to the banning of social media platform TikTok in the United States.
It gives the Chinese parent company ByteDance roughly nine months to sell it, or it will be banned from application stores in the United States.
The signing of the aid package was the culmination of months of tense negotiations and personal lobbying from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
It led to a split among U.S. House Republicans that continues to threaten the leadership position of House Speaker Mike Johnson.
Hardline House conservatives opposed further U.S. funding to Kyiv and threatened to oust Johnson over his handling of the negotiations.
Conservatives in Congress have opposed additional assistance for what they view as an “unwinnable war,” an opinion shared by ex-U.S. President Donald J. Trump, who seeks re-election in November.
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