The upper house of the US Congress has given final approval to a large-scale bill on defense spending. The document sets the Pentagon's budget at USD 901 billion and provides, in particular, financial support for Ukraine in the amount of USD 800 million.
This is reported by Associated Press and Washington Post.
During the vote, 77 senators supported the initiative, while 20 opposed it. Among those who did not vote in favor were two representatives of the Republican Party and 18 Democrats.
The White House emphasized that the approved defense budget is consistent with President Donald Trump's key national security priorities. At the same time, as AP notes, the thousands-page document, which is more than 3,000 pages long, demonstrates the existence of contradictions between Congress and the Pentagon. They arose after the Trump administration's decision to shift the focus of security policy from Europe to Central and South America.
Some provisions of the bill provide for financial restrictions for the Ministry of Defense. In particular, 25% of the funds allocated for the travel of Pentagon Chief Pete Hegseth will be frozen until he provides Congress with video footage of the September 2 operation in the Caribbean, during which 11 people were killed, as well as other documents related to the anti-drug campaign against Latin American groups.
In addition, the law obliges to maintain the number of US troops in Europe at the current level and to continue military support for Ukraine.
The document also reverses a number of Pentagon decisions and opens up the possibility of providing Kyiv with USD 400 million over the next two years. These funds are to be used to produce weapons that will be transferred to Ukraine.
Last week, the bill was already supported by the House of Representatives. After approval by the Senate, the document will be sent to the US President for signature.
As a reminder, the United States and European allies have prepared drafts of two documents that outline mechanisms to support Ukraine after the possible end of the war.
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