Kremlin: US House passage of Ukraine aid bill will hurt Ukraine, cause more deaths

Reuters
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(Reuters) - Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Saturday that U.S. House of Representatives' approval of security aid to Ukraine would lead to more damage and deaths in the conflict there.

The decision "will make the United States of America richer, further ruin Ukraine and result in the deaths of even more Ukrainians, the fault of the Kyiv regime," Peskov was quoted as saying by Russian news agencies.

The Kremlin has been locked in conflict in Ukraine since invading it more than two years ago.

The House approved a legislative package providing $60.84 billion to Ukraine, including $23 billion to replenish U.S. weapons, stocks and facilities.

The package now goes to the U.S. Senate, which passed a similar measure two months ago, for expected approval next week. It then is passed on to President Joe Biden to sign.

Peskov also said that provisions in the legislation allowing the U.S. administration to confiscate seized Russian assets and transfer them to Ukraine to fund reconstruction would tarnish the image of the United States.

Russia, he said, would enact retaliatory measures.

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, writing on the Telegram messaging app, said the approval of U.S. aid for Ukraine was expected and grounded in "Russophobia".

"We will, of course, be victorious regardless of the bloodsoaked $61 billion, which will mostly be swallowed up by their insatiable military industrial complex," wrote Medvedev, one of Russia's most vociferous hawks as deputy chairman of the Security Council.

Maria Zakharova, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, said the approval of aid in the legislation to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan would "deepen crises throughout the world".

"Military assistance to the Kyiv regime is direct sponsorship of terrorist activity," Zakharova wrote on Telegram.

"To Taiwan, it is interference in China's internal affairs. To Israel, it is a road straight to escalation and an unprecedented rise in tension in the region."

(Reporting by Ron Popeski; Editing by Sandra Maler and Cynthia Osterman)