Tuesday 17 May 2022 01:37 AM Eleven Republicans vote no on aid for Ukraine, as GOP splinters over Russian ... trends now
The Senate voted on Monday evening to advance a bill to send $40 billion more aid for Ukraine in its war against Russia, setting up a final vote possibly on Wednesday.
The tally was 81 to 11 on the first of a potential three procedural votes paving the way for final Senate passage of the funding, requested by President Joe Biden's administration to keep aid flowing and boost the government in Kyiv nearly three months after the start of the Russian invasion.
All 11 anti votes were Republicans showing how an isolationist Donald Trump-allied wing of the party has split off from the mainstream.
It comes after Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell led a delegation to the region in a show of support for Ukraine.
'There's always been isolationist voices in the Republican Party,' he told reporters on a conference call over the weekend from Stockholm.
'It won't create a problem, we'll get the job done.'
A convoy of pro-Russian troops is seen before the expected evacuation of wounded Ukrainian soldiers from the besieged Azovstal steel mill in the course of Ukraine-Russia conflict in Mariupol, Ukraine May 16
Russia's offensive across Ukraine has all-but ground to a halt, except for an attempted pincer movement around Ukrainian troops at Severodonetsk in the east, and an ongoing assault on the Azovstal steel works in Mariupol
Former President Donald Trump issued a statement on Friday criticizing Congress for pushing ahead with sending more aid when American families could not get hold of baby formula
Trump set the stage for a
