What did the Senate's $40 billion vote mean for Kyiv?
A retrospective on the US Senate's 86–11 passage of a large aid package for Ukraine, set against continuing Russian strikes.
What did it mean when the US Senate voted on 19 May 2022 to pass a $40 billion package aimed at sending aid to Ukraine? The chamber approved the legislation by 86 votes to 11, and the bill then went to President Joe Biden for his signature.
The margin was wide. Only 11 senators voted against the package, and the vote placed a very large sum of foreign aid on the table for Ukraine, which was nearly three months into the Russian invasion.
The war itself continued during those days. On 17 May 2022, two days before the Senate vote, a Russian airstrike in Desna, in Chernihiv Oblast, killed eight people and injured twelve others. The attack was a reminder of the human cost that surrounded the political decisions taken abroad.
Looking back, 19 May 2022 stands as a day when Ukraine's financial and military prospects were tied closely to decisions made in Washington. The Senate's vote sent the package to the president's desk and showed the scale of support in the chamber, while the strikes on towns such as Desna showed the conditions in which that support was being debated.
