WASHINGTON: US President Joe Biden on Thursday proposed a large package of $ 33 billion to arm and support Ukraine, saying that “succumbing” to Russia is not an option for the West because the war stretches until the third month.
Speaking in the White House, Biden also outlines the new laws proposed to enable the use of luxury assets stripped from Russian oligarchy under sanctions that have never happened before to provide compensation to Ukraine for the destruction caused by Russia that attacks.
He acknowledged the dramatic cost of US support for Ukraine, but said there was no real choice in the struggle with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“The cost of this battle is not cheap. But rely on aggression will be more expensive if we let it happen,” he said.
Reflecting the scale of US assistance to Ukraine, which is very persecuted by greater and heavier Russian troops, Biden confirms that the United States has sent 10 tank murder weapons to each Russian tank sent to the country.
However, he pushed back to the increasingly hot claims by Russian officials and government media that Moscow was against the whole west, rather than only Ukraine.
“We did not attack Russia. We helped Ukraine defend ourselves against Russian aggression,” Biden said.
Calling rhetoric in Moscow about the possibility of nuclear war as a sign of “despair,” Biden said “no one has to make empty comments about the use of nuclear weapons or the possibility that they will use it. It is not responsible.”
And after the Russian Gazprom state gas giant announced it would cut supplies to NATO and European Union members of Bulgaria and Poland, Biden said the United States was working to support European energy supplies.
“We will not let Russia intimidate or squeeze a way out of this sanction. We will not let them use their oil and gas to avoid the consequences for their aggression,” Biden said.
Congress voting is needed
Most of the packages proposed $ 33 billion are “$ 20 billion in the military and other security assistance. This means weapons and ammunition that flow to the people of Ukraine,” a senior US official told reporters.
The next economic assistance of $ 8.5 billion will “help the Ukraine government respond to the direct crisis,” While around $ 3 billion is proposed to fund humanitarian assistance and overcome the surprise price of global food supplies resulting from Russian attacks on Ukraine, the main major main wheat exporter, the word the official.
The proposed package also includes funding to overcome economic disorders in the United States and elsewhere, ranging from the impact on food supply to the availability of critical components used in high -tech manufacturing.
The Congress needs to approve the request and while the Republican party and the Biden Democratic Party have hinted that they want to continue to support Ukraine, a dispute at the request of Biden for the Pandemi Covid $ 22.5 billion that is not related to threatening to compose the approval process.
“I don’t care how they do it, I send both of them,” Biden said, but “we also should not let our guard down in our struggle against Covid-19.”
Chasing oligarchy
In line with Western military assistance – which starts with care of most of the defensive infantry weapons, but now including heavy artillery and armed drones – Washington led the sanctions designed to isolate Russia and Putin pressure.
Biden announced a proposal to increase pressure on the circle of billionaire Putin, with an increase in seizures and confiscation procedures that allow oligarchic assets to “be sold” to “fix losses caused by Russia and help build Ukraine.”
Until now, the European Union allies have freezed more than $ 30 billion in Russian assets, including nearly $ 7 billion of luxury goods owned by oligarchy, including cruise ships, arts, real estate and helicopters, the White House said.