Ukraine will receive $40 million from the United States via legislation signed by President Joe Biden on Saturday, just one day after Russia claimed its biggest victory yet in Mariupol.
The military, economic, and humanitarian aid will dispatch U.S. military equipment and supplies to Ukrainian refugees displaced by the three-month war, providing the country with more resources than requested in Biden’s initial $33 billion plan. The aid will go toward bolstering the Ukrainian army as it seeks to stave off Russian troops.
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“Grateful to [Biden] for signing the law on additional support for Ukraine. The leadership of the US, President Biden & the American people in supporting Ukraine’s fight against the Russian aggressor is crucial,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a tweet. “Look forward to new, powerful defense assistance. Today it is needed more than ever.”
Biden’s approval comes just one day after Russia claimed victory in Mariupol, marking its biggest victory yet and ending a three-month siege of one of the last strongholds in Ukraine. Russian troops had “entirely liberated” Mariupol’s Azovstal steel plant, with more than 3,000 Ukrainian soldiers surrendering at the site, according to Russia’s defense ministry.
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Russian authorities have threatened to investigate and prosecute some Ukrainian soldiers taken from the plant, citing possible war crimes.
More than 3,830 Ukrainian civilians have been killed since the invasion began, with another 4,351 injured as of Friday, according to the United Nations Human Rights Commission. Most of these casualties were caused by explosives or wide-impact shelling.
