Biden says not much time to keep aid flowing to Ukraine
Many lawmakers acknowledge that winning approval for Ukraine assistance in Congress is growing more difficult as the war grinds on. Republican resistance to the aid has been gaining momentum and the next steps are ahead, given the resistance from the hard-right flank.
While Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has begun a process to potentially consider legislation providing additional Ukraine aid, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., faces a more difficult task in keeping the commitment he made over the objections of nearly half of his GOP majority.
He told CBS’ ”Face on the Nation” that he supported ”being able to make sure Ukraine has the weapons that they need,” but that his priority was security at the U.S.-Mexico border.
‘I firmly support the border first,” he said. ”So we’ve got to find a way that we can do this together.”
By omitting additional Ukraine aid from the measure to keep the government running, McCarthy closed the door on a Senate package that would have funneled $6 billion to Ukraine, roughly one-third of what has been requested by the White House. Both the House and Senate overwhelmingly approved the stopgap measure, with members of both parties abandoning the increased aid in favor of avoiding a costly government shutdown.
”I have a hope that this will not be definitive decision and Ukraine will continue having the support of the U.S.,” he said.
The latest actions in Congress signal a gradual shift in the unwavering support that the United States has so far pledged Ukraine in its fight against Russia, and it is one of the clearest examples yet of the Republican Party’s movement toward a more isolationist stance. The exclusion of the money for Ukraine came little more than a week after lawmakers met in the Capitol with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. He sought to assure them that his military was winning the war, but stressed that additional assistance would be crucial.
Russia intercepts five HIMARS, JDAM bomb, 37 drones over Ukraine in last 24 hours
MOSCOW, Oct 1 (Reuters) – Russia’s defence ministry on Sunday said Russian air defences had intercepted five U.S.-made HIMARS shells, an air-launched JDAM bomb and 37 Ukrainian drones over Ukrainian territory in last 24 hours.
The ministry said those interceptions had occurred on the territory where Russia is fighting what it calls a “special military operation”.
Separately, the ministry reported that its air defences had shot down six Ukrainian drones over Russian regions and two Ukrainian missiles over Crimea.