US Democrats call for unblocking of funds for Ukraine amid reports of Navalny's death
Several representatives of the US Democratic Party in Congress have called for an aid package for Ukraine to be approved amid reports of the death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
Source: European Pravda, citing Politico
Details: Democratic Senator John Fetterman, commenting on Navalny's death, said that members of the US House of Representatives blocking aid to Ukraine "can revel in another high-five for Putin who just murdered his most vocal and visible critic".
Bill Keating, a member of the lower house of Congress, indicated that the event "underscores the brutal authoritarian rule of Putin", while House Speaker Mike Johnson refuses to bring the funding package for Ukraine to a vote.
His colleague Bill Pascrell called Russian President Vladimir Putin "a mass murdering war criminal" and stressed that former president Donald Trump "has openly encouraged Putin to attack America’s allies and republicans are blocking aid to Ukraine".
Republican lawmakers also reacted to Navalny's death by criticising Putin but not mentioning aid to Ukraine, Politico reported.
At the same time, House Speaker Johnson stressed that the United States and its partners "must be using every means available to cut off Putin’s ability to fund his unprovoked war in Ukraine and aggression against the Baltic states".
Background: This week, the US Senate voted in favour of a package bill that contains US$61 billion for Ukraine. However, the US House of Representatives went on recess until the end of February without voting on the package bill, which includes funds to support Ukraine.
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