WASHINGTON DC: The U.S. Senate advanced a stand-alone $95 billion foreign assistance bill by a vote of 67-32, setting up a final vote on $60 billion in aid to Ukraine and $14 billion in assistance for Israel. After hours of negotiations, the Senate cleared the 60-vote threshold needed to advance to a final vote on […]
WASHINGTON: The Senate passed a massive $1.7 trillion spending bill Thursday that finances federal agencies through September and provides another large round of aid to Ukraine one day after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s dramatic address to a joint meeting of Congress. The bill, which runs for 4,155 pages, includes about $772.5 billion for domestic programs […]
MAY 20: Sweden and Finland have the "full, total and complete backing" of the US in their decision to apply for Nato membership, President Joe Biden says.
Both countries submitted their applications to be part of the Western defence alliance this week, marking a major shift in European geopolitics.
To join the alliance, the two nations need the support of all 30 Nato member states.
But the move by the Nordic nations has been opposed by Turkey.
Speaking alongside Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson and Finnish Prime Minister Sauli Niinisto at the White House on Thursday, Mr Biden called Sweden and Finland's applications "a watershed moment in European security".
"New members joining Nato is not a threat to any nation," he said. The president added that having two new members in the "high north" would "enhance the security of our allies and deepen our security co-operation across the board".
Russia has repeatedly said it sees Nato as a threat and has warned of "consequences" if the block proceeds with its expansion plans.
Turkey has accused both Sweden and Finland of hosting suspected militants from the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), a group it views as a terrorist organisation.
However, both Nato Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg and British Defence Minister Ben Wallace have expressed confidence that these concerns will eventually be addressed.
Mr Biden's comments came as the US Senate voted to approve a new $40bn (£32bn) bill to provide military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine. It is the biggest emergency aid package so far for Ukraine.
The bill - which was passed by the House of Representatives with broad bipartisan support on 10 May - was expected to be passed earlier this week, but was blocked by Kentucky Republican Rand Paul over a dispute about spending oversight.
But the Republican's Senate leader Mitch McConnell dismissed these concerns and told reporters that Congress had a "moral responsibility" to support "a sovereign democracy's self-defence".
"Anyone concerned about the cost of supporting a Ukrainian victory should consider the much larger cost should Ukraine lose," Mr McConnell said.
Last week, Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged Congress to approve the package and warned that the US military only had enough funds to send weapons to Kyiv until 19 May.
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky praised the aid package as "a significant US contribution to the restoration of peace and security in Ukraine, Europe and the world".
The package brings the total US aid delivered to Ukraine to more than $50bn, including $6bn for security assistance such as training, equipment, weapons and support.
Another $8.7bn will be allocated to replenish stocks of US equipment already sent to Ukraine.
MAY 11: The warning comes as fierce fighting continues in the east, where Russia is trying to take territory.
Moscow refocussed its troops on capturing the Donbas region after Ukraine resisted attempts to take its capital Kyiv.
But despite this, its forces remain in a stalemate, US intelligence said.
Avril Haines, the director of national intelligence, told a US Senate committee hearing on Tuesday that Mr Putin was still intending "to achieve goals beyond the Donbas", but that he "faces a mismatch between his ambitions and Russia's current conventional military capabilities".
She added that the Russian president was "probably" counting on US and EU support for Ukraine to weaken as inflation, food shortages and energy prices got worse.
However, the Russian president could turn to "more drastic means" as the war continues - although Moscow would only use nuclear weapons if Mr Putin perceives an "existential threat" to Russia.
Defence Intelligence Agency Director Scott Berrier told the same hearing that the Russians and the Ukrainians were "at a bit of a stalemate".
In the latest fighting, Ukraine claims to have recaptured four settlements in the north-eastern Kharkiv region.
Cherkasy Tyshky, Ruski Tyshky, Rubizhne and Bayrak were all snatched back from Russia, Ukraine's arms forces said.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Ukrainian successes were gradually pushing Russian forces out of Kharkiv, which has been bombarded since the war began.
But he said Ukrainians "should not create an atmosphere of excessive moral pressure, where victories are expected weekly and even daily".
Elsewhere in eastern Ukraine:
-In the city of Izyum, the bodies of 44 civilians have been found in the rubble of a collapsed building as the battle for control of the area rages
-The five-storey building collapsed in March as residents hid in the basement from Russian shelling, but rescuers have only just been able to reach the building
-Situated south-east of Kharkiv, Izyum is known as the gateway to Donbas. It is surrounded by forests and rivers, which make it a natural fortress
-The final battle for Mariupol is being fought in the sprawling Azovstal steelworks, where hundreds of Ukrainian fighters are holed up in underground tunnels and bunkers, surrounded by Russian troops
-Capturing Mariupol is a key war aim of Moscow, because doing so would give it control of one of Ukraine's biggest ports and easier access to the wider region
-In the port city of Odesa, missiles struck several buildings overnight and shook homes nearby. One person was killed and five people were injured, Ukraine's armed forces said
BBC
The US Senate unanimously approved a resolution late Tuesday seeking investigations of Russian President Vladimir Putin and his regime for war crimes over the invasion of Ukraine
