President has announced $800million more in military aid to , as well as a plan to bring Ukrainian refugees to the US.
The additional funding sends ‘an unmistakeable message to Putin: He will never succeed in dominating and occupying all of Ukraine’, Biden said from the White House on Thursday morning.
Biden’s announcement came as Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a blockade of a steel plant where Ukrainian troops are holding out in the southeastern city of Mariupol.
The US is also providing Ukraine with an additional $500million in direct economic assistance.
‘This is money the government can help use to stabilize their economy, to support communities that have been devastated by the Russian onslaught and pay the brave workers that continue to provide essential services to the people of Ukraine,’ Biden said.
The US president also unveiled the Unite For Ukraine humanitarian program to complement the existing legal pathways for Ukrainians to pursue immigrant visas and refugee processing.
Biden said the program would provide an ‘expedient channel for secure migration’ for Ukrainians who have a sponsor like family members or a nonprofit organization.
‘This program will be fast, it will be streamlined,’ Biden said, adding that Ukrainian refugees ‘need not go through the southern border’ into the US.
Nearly a month ago, Biden promised to welcome as many as 100,000 Ukrainian refugees to the US.
Biden also banned all Russia-affiliated ships from docking in US ports or accessing American shores.
‘This is yet another critical step we’re taking in concert with our partners to further deny Russia the benefits’ of the international economy, he said.
Biden said that ‘it’s questionable’ whether Putin has gained control of Mariupol, and that he has failed in his ‘grand ambitions on the battlefield’ as the capital Kyiv still stands.
Asked how long the US will continue to provide military and other aid to Ukraine, Biden said, ‘We have the capacity to do this for a long time’.
‘The question is, are we going to continue to maintain the support of the international community and keep the pressure on Putin to prevent him from overrunning the country,’ Biden said.
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