US congressional Democrats prepare US$15bn aid package for Ukraine, FT says

Democrats in the US Congress are preparing a new security assistance package for Ukraine, which could be worth US$15 billion.

Source: Financial Times, citing sources

Details: The FT notes that, with Democrats controlling both chambers of Congress, they intend to use their authority to strengthen support for Ukraine and impose additional sanctions on the Russian economy.

Democrats plan to put together a new security assistance package for Kyiv worth around US$15 billion, one Democratic aide on the House Foreign Affairs Committee said.

Energy assistance ranks "really, really high on our list", the committee's Democratic aide noted.

Lawmakers are likely to use the annual National Defense Authorisation Act (NDAA), which must be passed before the current Congress's term ends, as a mechanism for providing assistance to Kyiv.

One of the Democrats' main priorities in the new Congress will be to amend the Russia sanctions bill named after the late South Carolina senator Lindsey Graham, committee aides said. The bill, passed with broad bipartisan support, provides for financial sanctions against Russia's defence and energy sectors.

"We're going to fix the Graham bill. A year and a half was spent trying to get sanctions on Russia and they were waived away," a Democratic committee aide said.

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