Published on 25.03.2015
The US House of Representatives has overwhelmingly asked President Barack Obama to provide weapons to the Ukrainian government for the fight against pro-Russian separatists. The resolution was passed by 348 to 48 votes and further increased the pressure on Obama .
According to reports that the internationally agreed ceasefire for eastern Ukraine was broken, the White House announced in early March deliveries of so-called non-lethal equipment to the government forces.
The House resolution says that Washington must also equip Kiev with "deadly defensive weapons systems" that would allow the country "to defend its sovereign territory against unprovoked and ongoing aggression by the Russian Federation."
The call for arms shipments also comes from Obama's Democrats. Democrat MEP Eliot Engel said on Monday evening that his government should stop treating the Ukraine crisis as "a distant conflict ". However, Obama's Cabinet on the issue of arms shipments is also internally divided.
Sharp criticism from Russia
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pawel Klimkin welcomed the support of the US House of Representatives. In Russia , however, this met with harsh criticism. If the US actually delivers weapons to Ukraine , that would aggravate the confrontation, warned the Russian foreign minister Alexei Pushkov on Tuesday in Moscow .
The Duma deputy called the support "aggressive". "This resolution is a direct call to war," said Franz Klinzewitsch of the ruling party United Russia . Russia and the separatists in Donbass accuse the Ukrainian government of preparing a new offensive in the war zone.
Kiev is calling for more money
Meanwhile , Kiev appealed to the international community to avert the country's financial collapse with more money. To save Ukraine from bankruptcy, the international community has pledged a total aid package of $ 40 billion. In the estimation of the Ukrainian government, that does not seem to be enough.
"I firmly believe that the G-7 and the G-20 are now responsible for providing much greater financial support to Ukraine ," Finance Minister Natalie Jaresko told the Financial Times on Tuesday . "The cost of a failed state would be much higher."
The country's economy between the EU and Russia was struck a good year ago, even before the onset of the violent conflict in the East. Gross domestic product shrank by seven percent in 2014, with a 5.5 percent decline this year. At the same time, according to IMF calculations, the country's debt ratio will rise to 94 percent of economic output in 2015.