Joe Biden asks Congress for $33 billion 'to help Ukraine defend itself'
Ukrainian servicemen load a truck with an American portable anti-tank missile provided by the United States as part of continuous military support, at Boryspil airport in kyiv, Ukraine, February 11, 2022 (Illustrative image).
AFP - SERGEI SUPINSKY
Text by: RFI Follow
2 mins
US President Joe Biden asked Congress on Thursday April 28 for a $33 billion budget extension intended mainly to deliver more military aid to kyiv.
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The United States cannot afford to remain passive in the face of the conflict in Ukraine, Joe Biden told the US Congress to justify this $33 billion extension.
Of this total, 20 billion must go to the supply of armaments, nearly seven times more than the quantities of arms and ammunition already supplied to Ukraine since the outbreak of the Russian invasion on February 24.
kyiv has already received 10 anti-tank weapons for each Russian tank, boasted the American president during his speech at the White House.
After being confined to weapons seen as defensive, Washington is now sending artillery, helicopters and drones to the Ukrainian army, whose soldiers are trained in the use of these weapons in the United States or in third countries before returning to the front. .
The United States "
does not attack
" Russia, nevertheless assured Joe Biden;
they “
help Ukraine defend itself
” against Russian “
atrocities and aggression
”.
The Kremlin had earlier warned against arms deliveries to Ukraine which “
threaten European security
”.
The tenant of the White House also castigated Thursday the "
irresponsible
" threats of Vladimir Putin of a possible recourse to nuclear weapons, seeing in it "the feeling of despair felt by Russia confronted with its miserable failure with regard to its initial objectives.
The American administration also wants to increase the pressure on the Russian president and his entourage by proposing to liquidate the "
kleptocratic
" assets seized from Russian oligarchs and to transfer the proceeds to Kiev "
to compensate for the damage caused by the aggression Russian
,” the White House said in a statement.
These assets seized amount to date, for the countries of the European Union (EU) alone, to more than 30 billion dollars in Russian assets, including nearly 7 billion in luxury goods belonging to the oligarchs.
The United States has meanwhile "
sanctioned and blocked ships and planes worth more than a billion, as well as freezing hundreds of millions of dollars of assets of Russian elites in American accounts
".
And, this month, Spain granted a US request to seize a superyacht worth $90 million owned by Russian billionaire Viktor Vekselberg, a close ally of President Vladimir Putin.
These punitive measures should not weaken.
The White House promised on Thursday to continue to “
crack down ” on “
sanctions avoidance
” maneuvers
by strengthening American investigative and prosecuting capacities against oligarchs tempted to evade them.
(
With
AFP)
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Ukraine
United States
Joe Biden