US officials say the Pentagon is poised to send a one billion-dollar package (£0.8 billion) of military aid to Ukraine as the Senate begins a debate on long-awaited legislation to fund the weapons Kyiv needs to stall gains being made by Russian forces in the war.
The decision on Tuesday comes after months of frustration, with bitterly divided members of Congress deadlocked over the funding.
House Speaker Mike Johnson was forced to cobble together a dramatic bipartisan coalition to pass the Bill.
The 95 billion-dollar (£76 billion) foreign aid package is now expected to gain Senate approval soon. About 61 billion dollars (£49 billion) of the aid is for Ukraine.
The announcement reflects US President Joe Biden’s promise on Monday in a call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky saying that the US would send the badly needed air defence weapons once the Senate approved the Bill.
Mr Zelensky said in a post on X, formerly Twitter, that Mr Biden also assured him that a coming package of aid would also include long-range and artillery capabilities.
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