The Kremlin has reacted angrily to news that the U.S. Congress has approved an aid package for Ukraine, warning that it will lead to the “deaths of even more Ukrainians.”
On Saturday, the U.S. House of Representatives approved more than $60 billion in aid to Ukraine after the potentially game-changing assistance for Kyiv languished in Congress for months, mired down by political infighting. Lawmakers also approved billions more in aid for other U.S. allies. The Senate will now vote on the package, before it heads to President Joe Biden for sign-off.
The decision “will 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,” Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, said in remarks reported by Russia’s state news agencies.
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“The allocation of military assistance by the United States to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan will aggravate the global crisis,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said in a post to messaging app Telegram.
Dmitry Medvedev, the former Russian president and current deputy chairman of Russia’s security council, said the approval of new aid to Ukraine was “Russophobic” and would exacerbate “the number of victims of this war.”
“I cannot with all sincerity not wish the United States to plunge into a new civil war as quickly as possible,” Medvedev said on Telegram.
Full-scale war has raged in Ukraine for more than two years, and Kyiv is heavily reliant on Western support to sustain its efforts against Russia, a far larger country that has successfully put its defense industry on a war footing.
Ukrainian officials and Western experts had warned that Kyiv would keep losing territory to Moscow without military aid from the U.S., and that the country was likely to face a new offensive starting as early as late next month. Ukrainian forces have been running low on key supplies, such as ammunition and interceptor missiles for the country’s air-defense systems.
Ukraine has “long fought for” the replenished aid, Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky said in a statement, calling the package “very significant.”
“We 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,” he said.
“The people of Ukraine are sincerely grateful to the U.S. Congress for the positive voting on the military aid package bill for our country,” said Andriy Yermak, the head of Zelensky’s office. “It is vital for Ukraine.”
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.