KYIV, Ukraine, 21 Apr (AP) \u2014 Ukrainian and Western leaders welcomed a desperately needed aid package passed by the U.S. House of Representatives, as the Kremlin warned the passage of the bill would \u201cfurther ruin\u201d Ukraine and cause more deaths.<\/p>\n
The House swiftly approved $95 billion in foreign aid for Ukraine, Israel and other U.S. allies in a rare Saturday session as Democrats and Republicans banded together after months of hard-right resistance over renewed American support for repelling Russia\u2019s invasion.<\/p>\n
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who had warned that his country would lose the war without U.S. funding, said that he was grateful for the decision of U.S. lawmakers.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe appreciate every sign of support for our country and its independence, people and way of life, which Russia is attempting to bury under the rubble,\u201d he wrote on social media site X.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cAmerica has demonstrated its leadership since the first days of this war. Exactly this type of leadership is required to maintain a rules-based international order and predictability for all nations,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The Ukrainian president noted that his country\u2019s \u201cwarriors on the front lines\u201d would feel the benefit of the aid package.<\/p>\n
One such \u201cwarrior\u201d is infantry soldier Oleksandr, fighting around Avdiivka, the city in the Donetsk region that Ukraine lost to Russia in February after months of intense combat.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor us it\u2019s so important to have this support from the U.S. and our partners,\u201d Oleksandr told The Associated Press. He did not give his full name for security reasons.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith this we can stop them and reduce our losses. It\u2019s the first step to have the possibility to liberate our territory.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ammunition shortages linked to the aid holdup over the past six months have led Ukrainian military commanders to ration shells, a disadvantage that Russia seized on this year \u2014 taking the city of Avdiivka and currently inching towards the town of Chasiv Yar, also in the Donetsk region.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Russians come at us in waves \u2014 we become exhausted, we have to leave our positions. This is repeated many times,\u201d Oleksandr said. \u201cNot having enough ammunition means we can\u2019t cover the area that is our responsibility to hold when they are assaulting us.\u201d<\/p>\n
In Kyiv, civilians shared their views on the U.S. aid package.<\/p>\n
\u201cI heard our president officially say that we can lose the war without this help. Thanks very much and yesterday was a great event,\u201d said Kateryna Ruda, 43.<\/p>\n
Tatyana Ryavchenuk, the wife of a Ukrainian soldier, noted the need for more weapons, lamenting that soldiers \u201chave nothing to protect us.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThey need weapons, they need gear, they need it. We always need help. Because without help, our enemy can advance further and can be in the center of our city,\u201d the 26-year-old said.<\/p>\n
Other Western leaders also lauded the aid package.<\/p>\n
\u201cUkraine is using the weapons provided by NATO Allies to destroy Russian combat capabilities. This makes us all safer, in Europe & North America,\u201d NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg wrote on X.<\/p>\n
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that \u201cUkraine deserves all the support it can get against Russia.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her statement was echoed by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who called it \u201ca strong signal in these times.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe stand with the Ukrainians fighting for their free, democratic and independent country,\u201d Scholz posted on X.<\/p>\n
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk thanked House Speaker Mike Johnson, while also noting the holdup in Congress. \u201cBetter late than too late. And I hope it is not too late for Ukraine,\u201d he wrote on X.<\/p>\n
In Russia, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called the approval of aid to Ukraine \u201cexpected and predictable.\u201d<\/p>\n
The decision \u201cwill make the United States of America richer, further ruin Ukraine and result in the deaths of even more Ukrainians, the fault of the Kyiv regime,\u201d Peskov was quoted as saying by Russian news agency Ria Novosti.<\/p>\n
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova also took to social media to speak against the aid package.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe allocation of military assistance by the United States to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan will aggravate the global crisis: military assistance to the Kyiv regime is direct sponsorship of terrorist activities,\u201d she wrote on Telegram.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe new aid package will not save, but, on the contrary, will kill thousands and thousands more people, prolong the conflict, and bring even more grief and devastation,\u201d Leonid Slutsky, head of the Russian State Duma Committee on International Affairs, wrote on Telegram.<\/p>\n
The whole aid package will go to the U.S. Senate, which could pass it as soon as Tuesday. President Joe Biden has promised to sign it immediately.<\/p>\n
In its latest assessment, a Washington-based think tank said that the logistics of getting U.S. assistance to the front line would likely mean that its effect would not be felt for several weeks.<\/p>\n
\u201cUkrainian forces may suffer additional setbacks in the coming weeks while waiting for U.S. security assistance that will allow Ukraine to stabilize the front,\u201d the Institute for the Study of War said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut they will likely be able to blunt the current Russian offensive assuming the resumed U.S. assistance arrives promptly.\u201d<\/p>\n
On the ground, Russia\u2019s Defense Ministry said Sunday that its troops had taken control of the village of Bohdanivka in the Donetsk region. Ukrainian officials have not yet commented on the claim.<\/p>\n
One person was killed and four other people wounded in Russian shelling in Ukrainsk, according to the prosecutor\u2019s office in Ukraine\u2019s partially occupied Donetsk region.<\/p>\n
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KYIV, Ukraine, 21 Apr (AP) \u2014 Ukrainian and Western leaders welcomed a desperately needed aid package passed by the U.S. House of Representatives, as the Kremlin warned the passage of the bill would \u201cfurther ruin\u201d Ukraine and cause more deaths. The House swiftly approved $95 billion in foreign aid for Ukraine, Israel and other U.S. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-239275","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239275","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=239275"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239275\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=239275"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=239275"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=239275"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}