US House passage of Ukraine aid bill will hurt Ukraine, cause more deaths: Kremlin

MOSCOW — Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on April 20 that the US House of Representatives' approval of security aid to Ukraine would lead to more damage and deaths in the conflict there.

The decision "will make the United States of America richer, further ruin Ukraine and result in the deaths of even more Ukrainians, the fault of the Kyiv regime," he was quoted as saying by Russian news agencies.

Russia has been locked in conflict in Ukraine since invading it more than two years ago.

The House approved a legislative package providing US$60.84 billion (S$82.82 billion) to Ukraine, including US$23 billion to replenish US weapons, stocks and facilities.

The package now goes to the US Senate, which passed a similar measure two months ago, for expected approval next week. It then is passed on to President Joe Biden to sign.

Peskov also said that provisions in the legislation allowing the US administration to confiscate seized Russian assets and transfer them to Ukraine to fund reconstruction would tarnish the image of the United States.

Russia, he said, would enact retaliatory measures.

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, writing on the Telegram messaging app, said the approval of US aid for Ukraine was expected and grounded in "Russophobia".

"We will, of course, be victorious regardless of the blood-soaked US$61 billion, which will mostly be swallowed up by their insatiable military industrial complex," wrote Medvedev, one of Russia's most vociferous hawks as deputy chairman of the Security Council.

Maria Zakharova, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, said the approval of aid in the legislation to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan would "deepen crises throughout the world".

"Military assistance to the Kyiv regime is direct sponsorship of terrorist activity," Zakharova wrote on Telegram.

"To Taiwan, it is interference in China's internal affairs. To Israel, it is a road straight to escalation and an unprecedented rise in tension in the region."

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