NY’s Sen. Schumer Demanding More $$$ for Ukraine as War Rages

By:  Mario Mancini

Democrat Senator Chuck Schumer is planning to send aid to Ukraine in their fight against the Russian invasion to the tune of $12 billion.

The New York Post reports  that the New York Democrat and Senate leader said he will push to include the additional money in an upcoming budget deal that needs to be reached by the end of the month to keep the federal government open.

“According to all the reports, Russia’s recent retreat in northeast Ukraine was its largest military defeat since the withdrawal of Russian troops from areas near Kyiv more than five months ago, and I am here to affirm that support by the US and other allies has worked and that we must help keep this momentum going,” the senator said in a statement to The New York Post. “This dramatic shift in momentum for Ukraine has been fueled by our bipartisan work in Congress, and I aim to continue that in the upcoming budget we will vote on next week. I will push to add at least $12 billion in aid for Ukraine to the budget, and I expect we’ll get the bipartisan support to see it through. We have seen, as Ukraine has gained ground, that Russian forces have been reckless and ruthles.”

Senator Schumer defended his call to send more aid by saying, “Mass graves, attacks that target civilians, and other unspeakable acts reinforce how critical aid like this is, and how it actually helps change what is happening on the ground in a way that can save innocent lives.”

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in support, ““With admirable grit and determination, the people of Ukraine are defending their homeland and fighting for their future”.

The most current news out of Ukraine is that a Russian missile landed outside a Ukrainian nuclear power plant, renewing fears of catastrophe as yet more nuclear reactors get caught in the crossfire. A Russian missile exploded within 350 yards of the South Ukraine Nuclear Power Plant in the central part of the country on Monday, according to Ukrainian atomic energy operator Energoatom, according to The New York Post.

Ukraine’s defense ministry released a video purporting to show the fireball of the explosion, some 19 minutes after midnight, Kyiv time. The ministry and the nuclear authority both accused Russia of “nuclear terrorism” in endangering the plant.

Evan Simko-Bednarski writes, The UN’s nuclear watchdog said Monday that several transmission lines to the plant had been damaged, but were now back online. The South Ukraine plant — the nation’s second largest — sits some 200 miles south of Kyiv, and roughly the same distance from the nation’s largest nuclear plant, the Zaporizhzhia plant at Enerhodar.