President Joe Biden signed a $40 billion bill providing aid to Ukraine on Saturday after it was flown to South Korea, where he is currently traveling.
A government official was tasked specifically with bringing the bill on a commercial flight to South Korea after it passed in Congress.
The Ukraine aid bill provides $20 billion in military assistance, $8 billion in economic support, $5 billion for global food shortages, and $1 billion for refugees from Ukraine.
Biden’s signing of the bill occurred as Russia claimed their biggest victory to date in Ukraine with the capture of the strategic port city of Mariupol.
Smoke rises from the Metallurgical Combine Azovstal during shelling, in Mariupol, in territory under the government of the Donetsk People’s Republic, eastern Ukraine, Saturday, May 7, 2022. Russia claimed to have captured Mariupol on Friday in what would be its biggest victory yet in its war with Ukraine, after a nearly three-month siege that reduced much of the strategic port city to a smoking ruin. (Alexei Alexandrov, File/AP)
The unprecedented spending bill for Ukraine was supported by 368 Democrats and Republicans in its final passage in the House of Representatives.
Biden also signed the Access to Baby Formula Act of 2022, a bill that waives certain program requirements for food stamps to purchase baby formula.
The president did not sign the bills publicly or take any questions from the press, but he released a statement Saturday morning indicating he had signed the legislation.
During his visit with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, President Biden spoke about the importance of ongoing sanctions and economic pressure on Russia
Biden also agreed to open up discussions on expanding joint military exercises near the Korean Peninsula to deter North Korea’s aggression. Former President Donald Trump ratcheted back the joint exercises as he attempted peace negotiations with the country’s dictator Kim Jong-Un.
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