The US Senate on Friday approved the federal government's new budget, including allocating $13.6 billion in funding for the Ukraine crisis, and helping Kyiv confront the Russian attack.
And quoting the New York Times, the American newspaper, the decision stipulates that the funds will be allocated to provide Kyiv with weapons and ammunition, provided that half of the amount allocated to the US Army goes to finance the deployment of forces in the region.
US funding will also allow Kiev to protect the country's electrical grid, counter cyber attacks and acquire defensive weapons.
The financial support package also includes $2.6 billion in humanitarian aid, and more than $1 billion to support Ukrainian refugees fleeing their country because of the war.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said the package "will provide food, medicine, shelter and support for more than two million refugees and resources for Ukraine's devastated economy."
He added that the funding "will also allow the transfer of weapons such as the Javelin and Stinger, and thus will reassure and strengthen the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)", according to the newspaper.
Washington has provided the Ukrainian army with Javelin anti-tank missile launchers and Stinger anti-aircraft missile launchers.
Announcing new sanctions Biden: Confronting NATO and Russia will ignite a third world war
The US President said that NATO would not engage in a direct confrontation with Russia because it would lead to a "third world war", and announced that the United States and its allies had decided to exclude Russia from the reciprocal trade system applicable in global trade.
US President Joe Biden vowed Friday to "avoid a direct confrontation between NATO and Russia" because it would spark a "third world war," and said, "We will not go to war with Russia in Ukraine."
The US president warned that Russia "will pay a heavy price if it uses chemical weapons" in Ukraine.
Biden announced that the United States and its allies had decided to exclude Russia from the reciprocal trade system applicable in global trade, paving the way for the imposition of punitive tariffs in response to the invasion of Ukraine.
"We are also taking additional measures to ban key sectors of the Russian economy, especially marine products, vodka and precious stones," the US president said.
He explained that the United States would revoke the status of "permanent normal trade relations" with Russia to punish Moscow for invading Ukraine.
The change, which Biden said was made in coordination with US allies, would clear the way for the US to impose tariffs on a wide range of Russian goods and increase pressure on an economy on the brink of a deep recession.
Media war YouTube bans media outlets close to the Kremlin and Russia restricts Instagram
YouTube said the ban on Russian-funded media is now "extending to all parts of the world, not just Europe". Like Facebook and Twitter, YouTube has previously banned media outlets such as Sputnik and RTV Europe, which are accused of misleading about the attack on Ukraine.
YouTube announced Friday that the ban on Russian-funded media has extended to all parts of the world, not just Europe, in another measure aimed at isolating Moscow.
"Our guidelines prohibit content that denies, belittles or ridicules well-documented incidents of violence, and we will remove content related to Russia's invasion of Ukraine that violates these rules," a spokesperson for YouTube, which is owned by Google, said.
"In accordance with these rules, we will also ban with immediate effect worldwide YouTube channels linked to Russian state-funded media," he added.
YouTube says that "content in question can range from allegations of fictitious victims played by actors, to videos depicting the Russian invasion as a peacekeeping or liberation operation."
On the other hand, some posts that contain incitement to hatred may be tolerated, provided that their goals are “educational, documentary, scientific or artistic,” according to the platform’s assertion.
The site added that it will take some time before the global ban becomes fully effective.
Like Facebook and Twitter, YouTube has previously banned media outlets such as Sputnik and RTV Europe, accusing them of misleading about the military offensive in Ukraine.
Russian reply
In return, Moscow banned Facebook on its territory and restricted access to Twitter, as well as the Instagram platform, which it accuses of spreading calls for violence against Russians in connection with the conflict in Ukraine.
"At the request of the Prosecutor General's Office, access to the Instagram application will be restricted in Russia," the Russian regulator Roskomnadzor said in a statement.
The authority later clarified that this restriction will enter into force at midnight on Monday (21:00 GMT Sunday), justifying the delay by its desire to allow users to "transfer their photos and videos to other social networks and notify their acquaintances and subscribers with that."
The Russian authorities also announced earlier on Friday that they would start legal prosecutions against the Meta group that owns the Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp applications, accusing it of spreading "murder calls" against the Russians.
The Meta group announced Thursday that it would exclude messages hostile to the Russian army and leaders from its policy on inciting violence and hatred, in light of international anger over Moscow's attack on Ukraine.
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