Biden announces additional $800m military aid package to Ukraine

The United States is to provide an additional $800 million package of weapons and ammunition to Ukraine as well as a further $500 million in direct economic assistance to the government in Kyiv, President Joe Biden has announced.

He said he would also be seeking the US Congress to authorise additional funding “to keep weapons and ammunition flowing without interruption to the brave Ukrainian fighters and to continue to deliver economic assistance to the Ukrainian people”.

Mr Biden said Russian-affiliated vessels would, under a new order, be banned from entering US ports.

“That means no ship – no ship that sails under the Russian flag or that is owned or operated by Russian interests – will be allowed to dock in a United States port or access our shores. None. None,” Mr Biden said.

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The Biden administration is also to allow Ukrainians fleeing Russia’s invasion of their home country to come to the US temporarily if they have American sponsors.

A new fast-track “humanitarian parole” programme starting next week will offer qualifying Ukrainians the ability to stay in the US for up to two years, officials said.

Any US citizen, including representatives of businesses and non-profit organisations, can apply to sponsor Ukrainians seeking refuge in the US but must show financial support and pass background checks, the department of homeland security said.

Mr Biden said the new programme would be “fast and streamlined”.

He said Ukrainian people would not need to travel to the southern border to try get into the US.

He said he had previously announced that the US would welcome 100,000 Ukrainians “so that we share in the responsibility of supporting Ukrainians fleeing [Russian president Vladimir] Putin’s war machine”.

Heavy artillery

The president said the new military assistance package would include heavy artillery weapons – dozens of Howitzers – and 144,000 rounds of ammunition. He said additional tactical drones would also be provided.

He also said the US alone had now provided to Ukraine 10 anti-armour systems for every Russian tank that was in the country – “a 10-1 ratio”.

“In the past two months, we’ve moved weapons and equipment to Ukraine at record speed.

“We’ve sent thousands of anti-armour and anti-[air] missiles, helicopters, drones, grenade launchers, machine guns, rifles, radar systems. More than 50 million rounds of ammunition had already been sent.”

Mr Biden said the new US economic package for Ukraine would mean that $1 billion in such support had been provided in the past two months.

“This is money the government can help use to help stabilise their economy, to support communities that have been devastated by the Russian onslaught, and pay the brave workers that continue to provide essential services to the people of Ukraine.”

Mr Biden said that, two months after the Russian invasion had begun, Putin had “failed to achieve his grand ambitions on the battlefield”.

He said Kyiv was still standing, there was no evidence yet that Mariupol had completely fallen and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy and his democratically-elected government were still in power.