Just a few hours after the final adoption by the American Congress of the gigantic aid plan for Ukraine, American President Joe Biden promulgated the text on Wednesday April 24. This signature comes after the vote on this text in the House of Representatives, Saturday, then in the Senate, during the night from Tuesday to Wednesday.
The law, which as a whole includes an aid plan of 95 billion dollars (approximately 89 billion euros) for Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan and an ultimatum to TikTok, has in fact received very broad support from the from the other component of the American Congress. A large part of this aid will go to kyiv, which has a complicated situation on the battlefield against Russia: 61 billion dollars (approximately 57 billion euros) are devoted to the war in Ukraine. Mr. Biden announced that the United States will send military equipment to Ukraine “in the coming hours.”
“It’s an investment in our own security,” Joe Biden assured Wednesday after the promulgation of the text. For the Democratic president, a candidate for re-election, this vote is also a message sent to Moscow: “We bow to no one. Person. And certainly not in front of [Russian President] Vladimir Putin. »
“We are not abandoning our allies, we are supporting them. We don’t let tyrants win, we oppose them. We are not spectators of developments in the world, we shape them,” he declared, welcoming the political consensus found between Democratic parliamentarians and a certain number of Republican elected officials, after months of difficult negotiations. , around the text. “This is what it means to be a global superpower,” said Joe Biden, who had been demanding these funds for months.
Congress Heeded “History’s Call”
On social media, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he was “grateful to the United States Senate for approving vital aid for Ukraine.” The Kremlin, for its part, minimized its scope. “All new batches of weapons are surely already ready and will not change the dynamics on the front,” Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday.
The adoption of this aid plan is a relief for the Ukrainian army, faced with a shortage of recruits and ammunition, in the face of constant pressure from Russian troops in the East. According to Mr. Zelensky, “Ukraine’s long-range capabilities, artillery and air defense are essential tools to more quickly restore a just peace.”
The United States is kyiv’s main military supporter, but Congress had not passed a major package for its ally in nearly a year and a half, mainly due to partisan squabbling.
The American president and the Democratic Party remained in favor of this aid, presented as an investment in the security of the United States in the face, according to them, of Russia’s aggressive aims. The Republicans, led by Donald Trump, became increasingly reluctant, and the speaker (president) of the House of Representatives, the conservative Mike Johnson, blocked the text for a long time. But the Republican leader ended up supporting the resumption of military and economic aid, with this justification: “I would rather send ammunition to Ukraine than send our boys to fight. »
This aid plan also authorizes Mr. Biden to confiscate and sell Russian assets to be used to finance the reconstruction of Ukraine. An idea that is gaining ground among other G7 countries. A large part of the envelope will also be used to replenish the stocks of the American army and will return to arms factories in the United States.