Should America have stayed out of this?
Late on Friday, President Joe Biden ordered $350 million be released for military aid for Ukraine.
In the order, Biden said the money should come from the Foreign Assist Act “in defense articles and services of the Department of Defense, and military education and training, and to make the determinations required under such section to direct such a drawdown.”
Following Biden’s announcement, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement released Saturday that this would be the U.S’s third drawdown of money for Ukraine in the last year, bringing the total drawdown figures to more than $1 billion.
In his statement, Blinken called Ukraine a “sovereign, democratic, and peace-loving nation,” before adding that the U.S. had been partners with Ukraine since the country “declared its independence from the Soviet Union more than 30 years ago.”
Blinken also revealed how the money would be used, saying, “This package will include further lethal defensive assistance to help Ukraine address the armored, airborne, and other threats it is now facing.” He also added that this round of financial assistance is “another clear signal that the United States stands with the people of Ukraine as they defend their sovereign, courageous, and proud nation.”
The decision to provide Ukraine with a further $300 million comes as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed in a self-shot video message that Kyiv was still under Ukrainian control, despite Russian troops entering the city.
In his informal recording, Zelenskyy also said the Ukraine was ruining Russia’s plans,” saying that the Kremlin “have no advantage over us.”
Repeating earlier calls for harsh sanctions to be imposed on Russia, Zelenskyy ramped up his request, urging countries to remove Russia from the SWIFT International banking system, something the Ukrainian President said he had “almost full support of the members of the EU to exclude Russia from SWIFT.”
Zelenskyy was requesting Germany and Hungary support the move in addition to the U.S. who had still not endorsed Zelenskyy’s request.
