Ukraine updates: US Congress goes back and forth on aid bill
Published February 13, 2024last updated February 13, 2024
What you need to know
US Senate lawmakers have voted to move ahead with a bill that would provide $60 billion (€55.7 billion) in aid for Ukraine. But Republicans, who have a majority in Congress, have said they would still block the bill.
Meanwhile, a thermal power plant in Dnipro has been put out of action after overnight strikes by Russian forces.
A military think-tank has also said that Russia has lost more than 3,000 tanks since the war began, but has thousands more lower-quality ones it can take out of storage.
Here's a look at the latest developments in Russia's war in Ukraine on Tuesday, February 13.
Biden urges House to vote in Ukraine aid bill, slams Trump
US President Joe Biden urged the the House to follow the Senate's lead and pass billions of dollars in war aid for Ukraine.
"Failure to support Ukraine at this critical moment will never be forgotten," he said in televised comments from the White House.
Most US Senators voted to pass the $95 billion (€88.2 billion) aid package that has been in negotiations for months. Now, the legislation is headed to the House of Representatives, where Republicans hold a slim majority but House Speaker Mike Johnson said he might hold up a vote on the matter.
"Supporting this bill is standing up to Putin, opposing it is playing into Putin's hands," Biden said. "History is watching."
Biden also blasted his predecessor, Donald Trump's comments on NATO.
"It's dumb. It's shameful. It's dangerous. It's un-American," Biden said. "When he looks at NATO, he doesn't see the alliance that protects America and the world. He sees a protection racket," Biden added.
On Saturday, at a campaign rally in South Carolina, Trump had told the crowd that, as president, he had warned NATO allies that he "would encourage" Russia "to do whatever the hell they want" to countries that did not "pay [their] bills."
Senate majority leader calls on House to pass Ukraine aid bill
Senator Chuck Schumer, majority leader in the US Senate, said he was confident that the foreign aid bill with billions of dollars for Ukraine and Israel would pass the House if there was a vote on it.
A majority of US Senators voted to pass the aid package worth $95 billion (€88.2 billion) that has been stuck in negotiations for months.
"It's certainly been years, perhaps decades, since the Senate has passed a bill that so greatly impacts not just our national security, not just the security of our allies, but the security of Western democracy," Schumer said after the vote.
Schumer later told a news conference that he was confident the bill would pass the House, where Republicans have a majority, if Republican Speaker Mike Johnson allowed the House to vote.
"I call on Speaker Johnson to rise to the occasion, to do the right thing: Bring this bill to the floor quickly," Schumer said.
Johnson has indicated it could take another few months before Congress sends the legislation to President Joe Biden desk.
"For us in Ukraine, continued US assistance helps to save human lives from Russian terror," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy posted on social media. "It means that life will continue in our cities and will triumph over war."
Russia has lost over 3,000 tanks, think tank says
Since it launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine almost two years ago, Russia has lost more than 3,000 tanks, which is around the number it had in its active inventory before the war started.
But it also has enough lower-quality armored vehicles in storage that it could replenish its stocks for another three years, even if it continues to suffer the same heavy losses.
This is at least according to the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) which released its annual Military Balance report on Tuesday.
"Moscow has been able to trade quality for quantity though, by pulling thousands of older tanks out of storage at a rate that may, at times, have reached 90 tanks per month," the report said.
While Ukraine has also suffered heavy losses, it "has been able to offset equipment losses through Western donations, upgrading quality in the process."
"The situation underscored a growing feeling of a stalemate in the fighting that may persist through 2024," the Military Balance added.
Ukraine says Russia is buying Starlink terminals in 'Arab countries'
Ukrainian military intelligence said on Tuesday that Russia has been purchasing Starlink satellite internet terminals from Arab countries to be used in the war in Ukraine.
Starlink, a service provided by the SpaceX company, which is owned by billionaire Elon Musk, enables internet access in remote locations through the use of satellites and portable devices.
Both Musk and Moscow have rejected earlier claims that Russia is using Starlink.
Ukraine on Monday said that Russia had been "smuggling" the devices into the country.
Kyiv has been using Starlink devices to maintain internet access in areas affected by the war where its forces are stationed.
It previously clashed with Musk last year when the billionaire refused to activate the Starlink network in Crimea to support a Ukrainian attack on Russia's naval fleet.
US Senate and House of Representatives at odds over Ukraine aid bill
A long-delayed bill to provide $95 billion (€88.2 billion) in aid for Washington's embattled allies in Ukraine, as well as Israel and Taiwan, is finally looking set to leave the Senate.
Several Republican senators joined Democrats on Tuesday in backing the bill, which seems likely to give it the majority needed to move on to the House of Representatives.
However, House Speaker Mike Johnson indicated that the Republican-led chamber would not take up the legislation after Democrats rejected demands to include provisions against illegal border crossings into the US.
Johnson's comments are in line with what former President Donald Trump has previously said. Trump is hoping to return to the White House in November and aims to campaign on an anti-immigration platform.
The delay of the legislation has already dragged on for months and thrown US support for Ukraine into question. Kyiv has warned that it is facing a shortage of weapons and ammunition as Russian attacks have intensified.
The aid bill includes $61 billion for Ukraine, along with $14 billion for Israel in its war against Hamas, $4.8 billion to support partners in the Pacific, such as Taiwan, against Chinese aggression, and $9.15 billion in humanitarian aid for Gaza and the West Bank.
Russian strikes take out power plant, Ukraine says
A Ukrainian thermal power plant in the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro has been taken out of action after it was hit in a wave of Russian missile and drone strikes.
The company that runs the power plant, DTEK, said in a Telegram post that the facility had been damaged and had stopped producing electricity.
It added that no casualties had been reported.
Dnipro's water company also said that the water supply had been partially suspended, while Dnipro's Mayor Borys Filatov said infrastructure had been hit.
Dnipro, a city of just under a million people, lies north of Zaporizhzhia, where Europe's largest nuclear power plant has been the focus of major concerns since it was caught in the crossfire between Russian and Ukrainian forces, with Moscow's forces also occupying the facility and sparking international outrage.
ab/rc (AFP, AP, dpa, Reuters)