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Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer: "The Strongest Signal Congress Can Send To Vladimir Putin This Week"
Photo: STEFANI REYNOLDS / AFP
US Senate Democrats are preparing a more than $12 billion humanitarian and military aid package for Ukraine.
The funds would benefit refugees and displaced persons, as well as medical care, food security and arms transfers to Ukraine, said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.
The package should be decided later this week as part of the budget.
A few days after the start of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, the government of US President Joe Biden had applied to Congress for a package worth a good six billion dollars.
Since then, the planned scope of the package has almost doubled.
Many Republicans in the House of Representatives and Senate also want to give Ukraine further support.
Details and the exact scope of the bundle of measures are still being negotiated.
"The clearest signal Congress can send to Vladimir Putin this week is to enact a bipartisan aid package and leave no doubt that the world's democratic institutions stand by Ukraine," Schumer said in the US Senate on Monday .
Congress will oppose the "deeply immoral and bloody war" ordered by the Russian President, Schumer said.
At the same time, there are also efforts to ban the import of Russian oil and gas.
The aid package for Ukraine is to be decided with a budget law that must be passed by Congress this week so that the government does not run out of money by the weekend.
Just last week, Biden approved emergency military aid for Ukraine worth $350 million.
According to official figures, US military aid has totaled more than one billion dollars since last year.
ok/dpa
