Zelenskiy Bans Ukrainian Troops From Gambling Online

Ukraine and its European allies have welcomed the U.S. House of Representatives's passage of a long-delayed aid bill critical to Ukraine's defense against the Russian invasion, while the Senate's Democratic leadership has pledged to vote on the entire package in the next 72 hours to get it to President Joe Biden's desk.

The $61 billion in Ukrainian aid and supplies will include ammunition and air defenses and is part of a $95 billion package that also includes Israel, and other U.S. allies, including Taiwan in the face of potential threats from China.

Live Briefing: Russia's Invasion Of Ukraine

RFE/RL's Live Briefinggives you all of the latest developments on Russia's full-scale invasion, Kyiv's counteroffensive, Western military aid, global reaction, and the plight of civilians. For all of RFE/RL's coverage of the war in Ukraine, .

The breakthrough April 20 yes votes were achieved with support from Democrats and moderate Republicans.

Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer (Democrat-New York) said overnight that "the Senate is ready to take the next step on additional national security legislation," adding, "The Senate has agreed to wrap up work with a first vote on Tuesday [April 23]."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the U.S. move will "save thousands and thousands of lives."

"We hope [the] bills will be supported in the Senate and sent to President Biden's desk. Thank you, America!"

“Democracy and freedom will always have global significance and will never fail as long as America helps to protect it,” Zelenskiy wrote on social media.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba called it a "bad day for [Russian President Vladimir] Putin" and "a bad day for anyone who dared to believe that America could flinch when it comes to standing up for what and who it stands for."

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal posted a breakdown of how the U.S. aid would be spent, including nearly $8 billion in "potential budget support" and $49.9 billion in "defense expenses."

The Kremlin responded to the House vote by saying the U.S. move would cost further Ukrainian lives "because of the Kyiv regime." It suggested the U.S. support was intended to "enrich" the United States and "further ruin" Ukraine, which was already battling Russian-backed separatists after 2014 before the unprovoked full-scale invasion in February 2022.

Then on April 21, a Russian deputy ambassador to the United Nations, Dmitry Polyansky, said there is "nothing to celebrate here." He repeated the Kremlin arguments and added in English viasocial media, "But the inglorious end of the Kiev [sic] regime is inevitable regardless of this new package and all the futile efforts of its U.S. and NATO backers to keep it alive."

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova accused the United States of waging a "hybrid war" against Russia and predicted the result of "deeper and deeper immersion" would be "a loud and humiliating fiasco for the United States [like] Vietnam and Afghanistan."

She sought to turn Russia's unprovoked invasion on its head, accusing the United States of a willingness "to fight to the last Ukrainian."

Zakharova said the broader U.S. package would "deepen crises around the world."

The Ukrainian bill -- six months after its introduction -- passed in the House by a vote of 311 to 112, with 101 Republicans voting in favor and 112 against.

Critics say the delay has allowed Russia to regain valuable momentum in its nearly 26-month-old full-scale invasion.

Biden has pledged to sign the package as soon as it gets through the Senate, and the Pentagon says delivery of the Ukraine assistance can begin quickly.

Biden said the aid packages "will deliver critical support to Israel and Ukraine, provide desperately needed humanitarian aid to Gaza, Sudan, Haiti, and other locations...and bolster security and stability in the Indo-Pacific."

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who has been an outspoken backer of military and other aid to neighboring Ukraine, said it was "better late than too late," adding, "I hope that it is not too late for Ukraine."

Tusk specifically thanked House Speaker Mike Johnson (Republican-Louisiana), who appeared to give greater urgency to the Ukrainian, Israeli, and Pacific Rim aid in recent weeks after months of delays and tensions with right-wing Republicans.

"At last!" said Polish Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz. "This is an important and extremely necessary decision. The democratic world must be united and determined in resistance to Russian imperialism."

EU European Council chief Charles Michel said the U.S. vote "sends a clear message to the Kremlin: Those who believe in freedom and UN charter will continue to support Ukraine and its people."

Kyiv has been under mounting Russian pressure over the past several months.

In the east, Ukraine's dwindling stocks of artillery ammunition and mounting human losses have given a better armed and more numerous Russian military an overwhelming advantage.

Zelenskiy and his government have been pleading for months with Kyiv's Western allies to increase supplies of modern air-defense systems, weapons, and artillery ammunition as deliveries of military aid both from the United States -- by far Ukraine's main military donor -- and from European countries began to dry out.

The aid for Ukraine includes $23.2 billion to replenish the stocks of U.S. weapons and military facilities and $11.3 billion for current U.S. military operations in the region, where the Pentagon has been training Ukrainian troops and keeps a presence across the continent, including Eastern European allies.

Like the bill passed in the Senate, it includes $13.8 billion for the purchase of advanced weapons systems, but the one in the House also contains a provision about more than $9 billion in economic assistance to Ukraine in the form of "forgivable loans."

The White House would have the power to set the terms of the loan to Kyiv and also be given the authority to cancel it.

The package includes measures that will allow Washington to seize frozen Russian central bank assets to rebuild Ukraine.

It also sets aside $26 million to "continue oversight and accountability" of aid provided to Ukraine.

The likely approval would bring the total amount that Washington has spent so far to aid Ukraine to $170 billion.

For Israel's support, the bill provides $26.38 billion, with more than $9 billion the humanitarian assistance for Gaza, where millions of Palestinians face starvation.

The Indo-Pacific aid to counter China's influence in the region amounts to some $8 billion, with $2 billion in foreign military financing for Taiwan and other key allies.

The package also includes legislation that gives ByteDance, the Chinese owner of the video app TikTok up to a year to sell its U.S. assets or face a ban in the United States.