US President Joe Biden speaking in North Carolina. File photoWASHINGTON, Apr 28U.S. President Joe Biden sent a request to the U.S. Congress for additional funds to support Ukraine.»I just signed a request to the U.S. Congress for critical support for security, economic and humanitarian aid to Ukraine,» Biden said during his speech at the White House.The US Congress has received a new request for assistance to Ukraine, Blinken said. Earlier, journalists from the White House pool informed that Biden intends to additionally request about $ 33 billion from Congress to support Ukraine. The new funding request will include about $20.4 billion for military assistance, $8.5 billion for economic assistance, and $3 billion for humanitarian aid and support for Ukraine in the field of food security. Earlier, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov noted that any cargo, which contain weapons for Ukraine will become a legitimate target for Russia. The Foreign Ministry of the Russian Federation stated that the NATO countries are «playing with fire» by supplying weapons to Ukraine. Press Secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov said that pumping Ukraine with weapons from the West does not contribute to the success of Russian-Ukrainian negotiations and will have a negative effect. Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine on February 24. President Vladimir Putin called its goal «the protection of people who have been subjected to bullying and genocide by the Kyiv regime for eight years.» For this, according to him, it is planned to carry out «demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine», to bring to justice all war criminals responsible for «bloody crimes against civilians» in Donbass. According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, the Armed Forces strike only at the military infrastructure and Ukrainian troops and, as of March 25, they have completed the main tasks of the first stage — they have significantly reduced the combat potential of Ukraine. The main goal in the Russian military department was called the liberation of Donbass.
