President Biden Requests Additional Funding to Support Ukraine
President Joe Biden asked Congress for “critical security, economic, and humanitarian assistance” for Ukraine to counter Russia’s “continued assaults,” the president said in an address from the White House on Thursday, April 28.
“The cost of this fight is not cheap, but caving to aggression is going to be more costly if we allow it to happen,” Biden said.
The bill would include providing Ukraine with weapons and economic support, the president said.
“Russia is the aggressor,” Biden said. “No ifs, ands, or buts about it. Russia is the aggressor. And the world must and will hold Russia accountable.” Credit: The White House via Storyful
Video Transcript
JOE BIDEN: Good morning. I just signed a request to Congress for critical security, economic, and humanitarian assistance to help Ukraine continue to counter Putin's aggression and at a very pivotal moment. We need this bill to support Ukraine in its fight for freedom. And our NATO allies, our EU partners, they're going to pay their fair share of the cost as well. But we have to do this. We have to do our part as well, leading the alliance.
The cost of this fight is not cheap, but caving to aggression is going to be more costly if we allow it to happen. We either back Ukrainian people as they defend their country, or we stand by as the Russians continue their atrocities and aggression in Ukraine.
Every day the Ukrainians pay the price, and the price they pay is with their lives, for this fight. So we need to contribute arms, funding, ammunition, and the economic support to make their courage and sacrifice have purpose. So they can continue this fight and do what they're doing. It's critical this funding gets approved and approved as quickly as possible.
Long before Russia launched this brutal invasion, I made clear how the United States would respond, predicted they would invade, and they surely did. We said we would not send US troops to fight Russian troops in Ukraine. But we would provide robust military assistance and try to unify the Western world against Russia's aggression.
I said I would impose powerful sanctions on Russia, and that we destroy this myth that somehow they can continue to move without the rest of the world acting. That we deploy additional forces to defend NATO territory, particularly in the East along the Russian and Belarus borders. That's exactly what we said we would do, and we did.
But despite the disturbing rhetoric coming out of the Kremlin, the facts are playing for everybody to see. We're not attacking Russia. We're helping Ukraine defend itself against Russian aggression.
And just as Putin chose to launch this brutal invasion, he could make the choice to end this brutal invasion. Russia is the aggressor. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. Russia is the aggressor, and the world must and will hold Russia accountable.
Russia's continued assault is yielding immense human cost. We've seen them leave behind horrifying evidence of their atrocities and war crimes in the areas they tried to control. And as long as the assaults and atrocities continue, we're going to continue to supply military assistance.
