Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) pushed for urgent aid for Ukraine after participating in a conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy this weekend amid Russia’s ongoing brutal invasion of Zelenskyy’s country. Plans for additional military and humanitarian aid for Ukraine have been under development in Congress, but Romney insisted that swift action was required rather than further waiting on the Congressional calendar, as he put it. Although Russian forces have so far been repelled from taking over the Ukrainian capital city, Kyiv, the Russian army has continued to inflict devastating tolls across Ukraine, and thousands of civilians in the country have died, according to authorities there. Romney commented as follows:
‘Just heard from President Zelenskyy. People are dying, freedom is under assault, and his number one request from us is old Soviet jets. The U.S. and NATO should accommodate his request now. Schumer and Pelosi must also put the Ukraine aid bill on the floor Monday for the U.S. to send desperately needed military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine now. Waiting on the congressional calendar is unacceptable when people are dying.’
Reuters reported on Thursday that there “appeared to be strong, bipartisan support in the Democratic-controlled Congress for $10 billion in military and humanitarian aid for Ukraine following the Feb. 24 launch of Russia’s invasion into its territory.” As of this weekend, the ambition was apparently to attach aid for Ukraine to a funding package to keep the federal government operating beyond a point next week (on March 11) when approved federal funding is slated to run out. If enacted at the $10 billion level, or something close to it, the aid for Ukraine that’s in the preparation process in Congress would apparently be substantially higher than the entirety of the military aid that’s been provided to Ukraine under the Biden administration so far, including hundreds of millions of dollars worth of it that was outlined just recently. That aid has included weapons like anti-aircraft and anti-armor munitions, boosting the Ukrainian fight against Russian invaders.
A friend in Moscow has friends who own a bar. They posted an anti-war message on the bar’s Instagram account. The police showed up at their parents’ house, wanting to “discuss the business.”
— Julia Ioffe (@juliaioffe) March 5, 2022
Economic counter-measures have also been part of the Western response to Putin’s aggression, and these steps have been relatively powerful — the Moscow stock exchange was basically shut down for the entirety of this past week’s trading, and the value of Russian currency has plummeted. Targets for these economic measures have included financing for the military and the assets of numerous individuals with ties to Putin, in addition to hundreds of billions of dollars in foreign currency reserves held by Russia’s central bank. According to journalist Kaitlan Collins, Zelenskyy pushed during that call with Senators for Russian oil exports to be targeted by the West amid this campaign to hold Putin and his allies accountable; so far, Russian energy has been protected from the brunt of sanctions amid concerns about the impacts on worldwide energy prices.
A senator on the call with President Zelensky this morning says he advocated for banning Russian oil imports and implored lawmakers to help Ukraine get more planes Ukrainian pilots can fly. He said they would do the fighting and flying — but he needed the aircraft.
— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) March 5, 2022
