By Tyler Durden,
Update (1010ET): During Thursday's speech from the Roosevelt Room, Biden has confirmed many of the details of the latest aid package for Ukraine, along with several previously unannounced measures. The money will include $500 million in additional economic aid to Ukraine, bringing the total economic aid to Ukraine to $1 billion since the start of the war. What's more, the US has already provided $2.6 billion in military aid.
This latest package will drain the money approved by Congress, and Biden said he will likely need to return to the Hill next week to ask for more money.
- BIDEN SAYS ANNOUNCES ANOTHER $800 MILLION FOR UKRAINE
- BIDEN SAYS PACKAGE INCLUDES HEAVY ARTILLERY, DRONES BIDEN SAYS AID
- PACKAGE INCLUDES DOZENS OF HOWITZERS, AMMUNITION, DRONES, HEAVY ARTILLERY
- BIDEN SAYS IN ORDER TO SUSTAIN UKRAINE FOR DURATION OF FIGHTS, WILL ASK CONGRESS FOR MORE MONEY NEXT WEEK
- UNITED STATES WILL BAN RUSSIAN-AFFILIATED SHIPS FROM U.S. PORTS
Here's another breakdown courtesy of Kayla Tausche:
Following his statement, Biden took a couple of questions, telling one reporter that there's no evidence that Putin actually controls the Ukrainian city of Mariupol (media reports have claimed Ukrainian fighters are holed up in a steel mill preparing to make their last stand in defiance of an order to surrender from the Russians) and that he hadn't yet made a decision on Title 42, the measure temporarily barring illegal migration into the US because of the pandemic.
Asked how long the US can continue its support for Ukraine, Biden replied that they could be in place for a long time.
* * *
Despite acknowledging that the US has almost no visibility into what happens to American weapons supplied to Ukraine (they might as well disappear into a black hole), President Joe Biden is planning to announce even more security assistance to Ukraine during remarks from the White House on Thursday.
It has been reported that the Biden Administration is preparing an additional package of approximately $800 million following a similarly sized package sent earlier this month.
That package included artillery and anti-artillery radar for the first time. The White House is searching for strategies to help deliver the military aid to Kiev as quickly as possible because the White House and Biden's military advisers believe the conflict has reached a 'critical stage'.
The administration announced last week that it was sending an $800 million package to Ukraine that included 40,000 artillery rounds and 18 155mm howitzers, but US officials warned that those artillery rounds would only last a little over a week, and that more would need to be sent quickly.
The Biden administration also announced new sanctions Wednesday against Russians and Belarusians who have allegedly committed human rights abuses along with companies and individuals who have sought to evade sanctions.
Biden will speak from the White House Roosevelt Room, and afterward he will head to Portland, Ore., and Seattle, Wash., to tout the administration's infrastructure plans while also attending Democratic Party fundraisers.
Source : https://www.zerohedge.com/political/watch-live-biden-announces-another-800-million-military-aid-package-ukraine
