Biden Defies Putin's Threats By Doubling Aid For Ukraine

Joe Biden called yesterday for a huge $33bn (£26m) package of military and economic aid to Ukraine, more than doubling the level of US assistance, in an emphatic rejection of Russian threats of reprisals.

- Julian Borger Washington Jon Henley Paris

A few hours after Biden had spoken and during a visit to Kyiv by the UN secretary general, António Guterres, the city was shaken by two cruise missile strikes. A senior Ukrainian presidential aide, Mykhailo Podolyak, called the attack a "postcard from Moscow" and asked why Russia still had a UN security council seat.

Biden asked Congress to give immediate approval for spending that would include more than $20bn in military aid, involving everything from heavy artillery to greater intelligence sharing. Biden also requested $8.5bn in economic aid for Kyiv and $3bn in humanitarian relief, as well as funds to increase US production of food crops and minerals to offset the impact of the war on global supplies.

The total of $33bn is more than twice the last supplemental request approved by Congress 16 →→ in March and dwarfs the entire defence budget of Ukraine.

Biden said it was aimed at helping Ukraine repel Russian offensives in the east and south of the country, but also to transition to assuring the nation's longer-term security needs.

It comes in the face of Russian warnings that western intervention could bring instant Russian reprisals and raise the risk of nuclear conflict.

Making the case for aid, Biden argued that on the contrary, if Putin were not stopped in Ukraine he would continue to threaten global stability.

Biden framed the request principally in terms of defending Ukraine, and did not explicitly repeat the declaration this week by his defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, that one US aim in Ukraine was to weaken Russia to stop it attacking other countries.