Ukrainians will have to pay back military assistance extended to their country as it struggles to fight back the relentless Russian military.
The U.S. House of Representatives voted resoundingly on Saturday to approve U$95 billion in foreign aid for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.
The legislation includes U$60 billion for Kyiv; U$26 billion for Israel and humanitarian aid for civilians in conflict zones, including Gaza; and U$8 billion for the Indo-Pacific region.
It would direct the president to seek repayment from the Ukrainian government of U$10 billion in economic assistance, a concept supported by former President Donald J. Trump, who had pushed for any aid to Kyiv to be in the form of a loan.
But it also would allow the president to forgive those loans starting in 2026.
The US president may sign the aid into law later this week, as the US Senate is expected to approve the House foreign aid package – which also includes funding for Israel and Taiwan – as early as Tuesday.
The most urgent priority is to appropriate funds to resupply Kyiv with artillery shells, air defense missiles, deep-strike rockets, and other critical military needs.
Russia on Saturday slammed the approval by the U.S. House of Representatives for an aid package to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.
“The allocation of U.S. military aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan will exacerbate global crises,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.
She called aid for Kyiv “direct support for terrorist activities” and said aid to Taiwan represented “interference in China’s internal affairs.”
Support for Israel represents “a direct path to an unprecedented worsening of the situation in the region,” Zakharova added.
Earlier Saturday, Russia’s presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the decision to provide aid to Ukraine “will further enrich the United States of America and ruin Ukraine even more, by killing even more Ukrainians because of the Kyiv regime,” state news agency TASS reported.
