Refugees fleeing Ukraine arrive in Poland. File

Biden’s latest proposal — which the White House said was expected to support Ukraine's needs for five months — has more than $20 billion in military assistance for Kyiv and for shoring up defences in nearby countries. There is also $8.5 billion in economic aid to help keep Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s government functioning and $3 billion for food and humanitarian programs around the world.

The assistance package, which heads to Congress for consideration, would be more than twice as large as the initial $13.6 billion in defence and economic aid for Ukraine and Western allies enacted last month that is now almost exhausted. It was meant to signify that the US is not tiring of helping to stave off Russian President Vladimir Putin's attempt to expand his nation's control of its neighbour, and perhaps beyond.

"The cost of this fight is not cheap, but caving to aggression is going to be more costly," Biden said. "It’s critical this funding gets approved and as quickly as possible.”

The request comes with the fighting, now in its ninth week, sharpening in eastern and southern parts of the country and international tensions growing as Russia cuts off gas supplies to two Nato allies, Poland and Bulgaria.

Biden promised that the US would work to support its allies' energy needs, saying, "We will not let Russia intimidate or blackmail their way out of the sanctions.”

Biden said the new package "begins the transition to longer-term security assistance” for Ukraine.

There is wide, bipartisan support in Congress for giving Ukraine all the help it needs to fight the Russians, and its eventual approval of assistance seems certain. But Biden and congressional Democrats also want lawmakers to approve billions more to battle the pandemic, and that along with a Republican push to entangle the measure with an extension of some Trump-era immigration restrictions leaves the proposal's pathway to enactment unclear.

Biden asked lawmakers to include an additional $22.5 billion for vaccines, treatments, testing and aid to other countries in continuing efforts to contain COVID-19, saying "we’re running out of supply for therapeutics." But that figure, which Biden also requested last month, seems aspirational. In a compromise with Republicans, Senate Democrats have already agreed to pare that figure to $10 billion, and reviving the higher amount would be at best an uphill fight.

Associated Press