The House of Representatives has finally approved $61 billion in new US military aid for Ukraine to help combat Russia’s invasion.
The much-delayed measure had vocal opponents in Congress and it took a fragile bipartisan deal to get the package through.
Republicans said more than a third would be dedicated to replenishing weapons and ammunition.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky described the US support as “vital”.
The aid is likely to include air defense systems, mid to long-range missiles and artillery shells.
It is unclear when it will arrive. The package will now go to the Senate, which is expected to pass it within the next few days before President Joe Biden signs it into law.
Ukraine, which relies on Western weapons, desperately needs the aid as it struggles to contain invading Russian troops, who have been making steady advances in recent weeks.
President Zelensky said the aid should come as quickly as possible. In an evening address on April 21, he said that if Ukraine were given the right weapons it could change the situation on the frontline.
Alongside replenishing weapons and ammunition systems, Ukraine will also receive more than $9 billion of economic assistance in the form of “forgivable loans” – ones that do not need to be paid back.
Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Since then tens of thousands of people, mainly soldiers, have been killed or injured on both sides, and millions of Ukrainians have had to flee their homes.
Ukrainian soldiers are now running low on munitions and having to ration artillery shells on a front line more than 745 miles long.
Cheers and applause erupted in the House when the measure passed, by 311 votes to 112, with some Representatives waving Ukrainian flags.
Welcoming the result, President Biden praised the bipartisan effort to “answer history’s call” and urging the Senate to approve it quickly “so that I can sign it into law and we can quickly send weapons and equipment to Ukraine to meet their urgent battlefield needs”.
The foreign aid package passed on April 20 also includes:
$26.4 billion in military support for Israel, with $9.1 billion of that allocated to humanitarian aid for Gaza.
$8.1 billion in funding for allies in the Asia-Pacific, including Taiwan, to “counter communist China”.
Ukrainian Orthodox Christians are celebrating Christmas on December 25 for the first time this year.
Ukraine has traditionally used the Julian calendar, also used by Russia, where Christmas falls on January 7.
In a further shift from Russia, it is now marking Christmas according to the Western – or Gregorian – calendar, which it uses in everyday life.
President Volodymyr Zelensky changed the law in July, saying it allowed Ukrainians to “abandon the Russian heritage” of celebrating Christmas in January.
In a Christmas message issued on December 24, Volodymyr Zelensky said all Ukrainians were now together.
“We all celebrate Christmas together. On the same date, as one big family, as one nation, as one united country.”
The Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU), a newly created independent church that held its first service in 2019, has also changed its Christmas date to December 25.
It formally broke away from the Russian Orthodox church over Moscow’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 and its support for separatists in eastern Ukraine.
People prayed and lit candles across the country on December 24.
In the western city of Lviv, which has been little damaged by the war, children in traditional costumes sang carols and took part in festive processions on the streets.
In recent years many worshippers have joined the OCU but millions still follow the historically Russia-linked Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), and so will continue to celebrate Christmas on January 7.
The UOC says that in 2022 it split from Moscow because of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine although many people remain sceptical.
There are expected to be quite a few Ukrainians who will be celebrating twice – the more the merrier.
Donald Trump’s lawyers have begun
defending him at his impeachment trial, accusing Democrats of seeking to
overturn the result of the 2016 election.
White House Counsel Pat Cipollone
said: “The president did absolutely
nothing wrong.”
President Trump’s defense will last
three days and follows the Democrats’ prosecution case which ended on January
24.
Donald Trump faces two charges
linked to his dealings with Ukraine.
The articles of impeachment accuse
the president of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.
President Trump is alleged to have
withheld military aid to pressure the Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky,
into starting a corruption investigation into Donald Trump’s political rival,
Democrat Joe Biden, and his son Hunter.
Democrats also accuse President
Trump of making a visit by Volodymyr Zelensky to the White House contingent on
an investigation.
The president is charged with obstructing
Congress by failing to co-operate with the House of Representatives impeachment
inquiry.
The trial in the Senate will decide
if Donald Trump should be removed from office. This is unlikely as the
Republicans control the Senate and any such move would need a two-thirds
majority.
Echoing a line heard from many
Republicans, Pat Cipollone said Democrats were “asking you not only to
overturn the results of the last election… they’re asking you to remove
President Trump from the ballot in the election that’s occurring in
approximately nine months.”
“They are asking you to do something very, very
consequential and, I would submit to you … very, very dangerous,” he said.
Much of the abuse of power charge centers on a phone call in July between
President Trump and President Zelenksy.
Donald Trump’s defense lawyer Mike Purpura insisted there was no quid pro
quo – as asserted by the Democrats.
He said: “Zelenksy felt no
pressure. President Zelensky says he felt no pressure. The House managers tell
you they know better.”
In a news conference after January 25 hearing, Adam Schiff, the Democrats’
lead prosecutor, raised the disputed issue of calling witnesses.
He said: “The one question they
did not address at all is why they don’t want to give the American people a
fair trial, why they want this to be the first impeachment case in history
without a single witness and without a single document being handed over.
“That ought to tell you
everything you need to know about the strength and weaknesses of this
case”.
The leader of the Democrats in the Senate, Chuck Schumer, told reporters that President Trump’s defense team had inadvertently “made a really compelling case for why the Senate should call witnesses and documents”.
A newly-released government email
has revealed that the White House sought to freeze aid to Ukraine just 91
minutes after President Donald Trump spoke to President Volodymyr Zelensky by
phone in July.
The email, telling the Pentagon to
“hold off”, was sent by a senior White House official.
In the phone call, President Trump
asked the Ukrainian leader to investigate his political rival, Democrat Joe
Biden.
On December 18, President Trump has
been impeached for abuse of power over the issue.
Democrats say the phone call shows
Donald Trump used the office for personal political gain.
A US whistleblower who heard about
the conversation raised concerns, which ultimately triggered the impeachment
inquiry.
The president was formally impeached
by the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives, but is unlikely to be
removed from office as the case will go to trial in the Senate, where his
Republican party has a majority.
The newly-released email was obtained
by the Center for Public Integrity following a court order in a freedom of
information case.
The email shows that Mike Duffey, a
senior White House official, contacted senior defense officials about
withholding Ukraine’s aid just over an hour-and-a-half after President Trump
ended a call with President Zelensky on July 25.
The transcript shows President Trump
asked Volodymyr Zelensky to “do us a favor” and investigate Joe
Biden, currently a frontrunner to be the Democratic candidate in the 2020 White
House race, and his son Hunter Biden, who had previously worked for a Ukrainian
energy company.
In the email Mike Duffey asks that
the Department of Defense “hold off” on providing aid following the
administration’s plan to review.
The email reads: “Given the sensitive nature of the
request, I appreciate your keeping that information closely held to those who
need to know to execute direction.”
In a statement released to media on December 22, Rachel Semmel, a spokeswoman for the Office of Management and Budget, dismissed the characterization of the email.
President Donald Trump has been invited to the Congress’ first impeachment hearing on December 4.
Democratic chairman of the House Judiciary Committee Jerrold Nadler said President
Trump could either attend or “stop complaining about the process”.
If the president does attend, he would be able to question witnesses.
The hearing would mark the next stage in the impeachment inquiry, which
centers on a July phone call between PresidentTrump and Ukrainian President
Volodymyr Zelensky.
In that call, President Trump asked Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate Joe
Biden, currently the front-runner to be the Democratic candidate in next year’s
presidential election, and his son Hunter Biden, who had previously worked for
Ukrainian energy company Burisma.
The probe is looking into whether President Trump used the threat of
withholding US military aid to pressure Ukraine into investigating the Bidens.
Donald Trump has denied any wrongdoing and has called the inquiry a “witch
hunt”.
Last week, the House Intelligence
Committee wrapped up two weeks of public hearings, which followed several weeks
of closed-door witness interviews.
Democratic chairman of the
Intelligence Committee Adam Schiff said the committees leading the probe –
Intelligence, Oversight and Foreign Affairs – are now working on their report,
which will be issued on December 3.
On November 26, the latest
transcript of inquiry evidence was released, detailing testimony by senior
budget official Mark Sandy.
Mark Sandy told the House
investigators that two White House budget officials had resigned following the
withholding of military aid to Ukraine. He said that one, a lawyer, had
expressed concern that the action could be a violation of a 1974 budget law.
Jerrold Nadler said in a statement
that he had written to President Trump inviting him to the hearing next month.
He said: “At base, the president has a choice to make.
“He can take this opportunity to be represented in the
impeachment hearings, or he can stop complaining about the process.
“I hope that he chooses to participate in the inquiry,
directly or through counsel, as other presidents have done before him.”
In his letter to the president, Jerrold Nadler said the hearing would be an
opportunity to discuss the historical and constitutional basis for impeachment.
He has given President Trump until 18:00 EST on December 1 to confirm
whether or not he will be at the hearing, and if so, to let the committee know
who his counsel will be.
The Judiciary Committee is expected to begin drafting articles of
impeachment – which are the charges of wrongdoing against the president – in
early December.
After a vote in the Democratic-controlled House, a trial would be held in
the Republican-run Senate.
If Donald Trump was convicted by a two-thirds majority – an outcome deemed highly unlikely – he would become the first US president to be removed from office through impeachment.
State department official David Holmes has said
at the impeachment inquiry that a US diplomat told Donald Trump Ukraine would
carry out investigations the president had asked for.
David Holmes said he had overheard this during a call in July between
President Trump and the US envoy to the EU, Gordon Sondland.
He said the call came a day after President Trump asked Ukraine to probe
ex-VP Joe Biden.
President Trump has dismissed the impeachment inquiry as “presidential
harassment”.
The inquiry is investigating whether Donald Trump withheld US military aid
to Ukraine in order to pressure the country’s new President Volodymyr Zelensky
to announce a corruption inquiry into Joe Biden, now his rival for the presidency.
On November 15, President Trump launched a Twitter attack on another witness
– former US ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch.
He tweeted in the middle of her testimony: “Everywhere Marie Yovanovitch went turned bad.
“She started off in Somalia, how
did that go?”
Asked for her response, Marie Yovanovitch called it “very
intimidating”.
President Trump later hit back, arguing his tweets were not intimidating
“at all”. He told reporters he had watched part of the impeachment
hearing and considered it “a disgrace”.
David Holmes testified behind closed doors before us lawmakers in Washington
DC.
The diplomatic aid said he had overheard the phone call between President
Trump and Ambassador Sondland in which “investigations” are said to
have been discussed.
He said Gordon Sondland called President Trump from a restaurant in
Ukraine’s capital Kyiv on July 26, 2019.
According to a copy of his opening statement obtained by CBS News, David
Holmes said: “Sondland told Trump
that [Ukrainian President] Zelensky ‘loves your ass.'”
“I then heard President Trump
ask, ‘So, he’s gonna do the investigation?’
“Ambassador Sondland replied that
‘he’s gonna do it’, adding that President Zelensky will do ‘anything you ask him
to’.”
Observers have drawn attention to the security implications of making the
call from a restaurant, potentially exposing the conversation to eavesdropping
by Russian intelligence.
David Holmes’ deposition appears to corroborate the testimony given to the
impeachment inquiry by US ambassador to Ukraine Bill Taylor on November 13.
Bill Taylor said one of his aides heard the same chat.
The aide said President Trump had asked about “investigations” and
Gordon Sondland had replied that Ukraine was ready to move forward.
According to Bill Taylor, Gordon Sondland then told the aide that the
president cared more about the investigation of the Bidens than anything else
involving Ukraine.
The call – which Donald Trump has denied any knowledge of – allegedly
happened the day after the now-famous Trump-Zelensky phone call.
While giving her evidence, Marie
Yovanovitch was alerted to the president’s criticism by the hearing’s chairman
Adam Schiff.
Responding directly to Donald
Trump’s tweet, in which he appeared to blame her for upheaval in Somalia, Marie
Yovanovitch replied: “I don’t think
I have such powers, not in Mogadishu and Somalia and not in other places.
“I actually think that where I’ve served over the years
I and others have demonstrably made things better, you know, for the US as well
as for the countries that I’ve served in.”
Marie Yovanovitch’s response was
broadcast live during the televised hearing.
Adam Schiff, the Democratic Chairman
of the Intelligence Committee overseeing the impeachment inquiry, suggested the
president’s tweets could be classed as witness intimidation.
Marie Yovanovitch was removed as ambassador to Kyiv in May, two months before a controversial phone call between President Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky, which is now key to the inquiry.
President Donald Trump has branded a
whistleblower allegation that he made a promise to a foreign leader – believed
to be Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky – as a “ridiculous
story”.
Donald Trump said his talks with leaders were always “totally
appropriate”.
According to reports, President Trump wanted Ukraine to investigate Joe
Biden and his son, Hunter – who was on a Ukrainian gas company board – in
return for more US military support.
Joe Biden is frontrunner to be the Democrat’s 2020 presidential candidate.
He wrote in a statement: “If
these reports are true, then there is truly no bottom to President Trump’s
willingness to abuse his power and abase our country.”
Joe Biden called on President Trump to “immediately release” a
transcript of the phone call “so that the American people can judge for
themselves”.
In its report on the complaint by the whistleblower, the Washington Post said the intelligence
official had found President Trump’s comment to the foreign leader “so troubling”
that they went to the department’s inspector general.
The Wall Street Journal,
meanwhile, quoted sources as saying President Trump had urged President
Zelensky about eight times to work with his lawyer Rudy Giuliani on an
investigation into Joe Biden’s son, but had not offered anything in return.
On September 20, House Speaker Nancy
Pelosi said that reports of the complaint raised “grave, urgent
concerns” for US national security.
Presidents Trump and Zelensky spoke
by phone on July 25. The whistleblower’s complaint is dated August 21.
Donald Trump described the complaint
as “just another political hack job”.
Speaking alongside Australia’s
leader Scott Morrison in the White House, the president said: “It’s a ridiculous story. It’s a
partisan whistleblower. He shouldn’t even have information. I’ve had
conversations with many leaders. They’re always appropriate.”
President Trump also called for Joe Biden’s
finances to be scrutinized.
He told reporters: “It doesn’t matter what I discussed,
someone ought to look into Joe Biden’s billions of dollars and you wouldn’t
look into that because he’s a Democrat.”
On September 19, President Trump
wrote on Twitter that he knew all his phone calls to foreign leaders were
listened to by US agencies.
Ukraine says President Trump and President Zelensky will meet next week in
New York during the UN General Assembly.
Democrats are trying to get the complaint turned over to Congress, with many
details still unknown.
Earlier this month, before the whistleblower’s complaint came to light,
House Democrats launched an investigation into President Trump and Rudy
Giuliani’s interactions with Ukraine.
Three Democratic panel heads – Eliot Engel (foreign affairs), Adam Schiff
(intelligence) and Elijah Cummings (oversight) – said Donald Trump and Rudy Giuliani
had attempted “to manipulate the Ukrainian justice system to benefit the
president’s re-election campaign and target a possible political
opponent”.
They allege that President Trump and Rudy Giuliani tried to pressure the Ukrainian government into investigating Joe and Hunter Biden.
Comedian Volodymyr Zelensky has scored a landslide
victory in Ukraine’s presidential election.
With nearly all ballots counted in the run-off vote, Volodymyr Zelensky, 41,
had taken more than 73% with incumbent Petro Poroshenko trailing far behind on
24%.
He told celebrating supporters: “I
will never let you down.”
Russian PM Dmitry Medvedev commented in a Facebook post that Russia wants
Volodymyr Zelensky to show “sound judgement”, “honesty” and
“pragmatism” so that relations can improve. Russia backs separatists
in eastern Ukraine.
He said he expected Volodymyr Zelensky to “repeat familiar ideological
formulas” that he used in the election campaign, adding: “I have no illusions on that score.
“At the same time, there is a
chance to improve relations with our country.”
Petro Poroshenko, who admitted defeat after the first exit polls were
published, has said he will not be leaving politics.
He told voters that Volodymyr Zelensky was too inexperienced to stand up to
Russia effectively.
Volodymyr Zelensky, a political novice, is best known for starring in a satirical
TV series Servant of the People, in
which his character accidentally becomes Ukrainian president.
The comedian told reporters he would “reboot” peace talks with the
separatists fighting Ukrainian forces and volunteers in the east.
He said: “I think that we will
have personnel changes. In any case we will continue in the direction of the
Minsk [peace] talks and head towards concluding a ceasefire.”
There are sporadic skirmishes and the situation also remains tense around Crimea, annexed from Ukraine by Russia in 2014.
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