Supporters of bill to aid Ukraine and sanction Russia hit number to force House vote

WASHINGTON (AP) — Supporters of a bill to aid Ukraine and sanction Russia reached a critical threshold on Wednesday that allows them to bypass Republican leadership and force a vote on the House floor in the coming weeks. The legislation seeks to cement U.S. assistance for Ukraine by approving more than $1 billion in security aid and making another $8 billion available in the form of loans. Supporters have been calling on President Donald Trump to act more forcefully to deter Russia and boost Ukraine. Lawmaking gained 218 signatures on a petition from Democratic Rep. Gregory Meeks of New York that will force a House vote. While the measure is unlikely to become law, the vote will put lawmakers on record concerning their support for Ukraine. The petition was signed by 215 Democrats and two Republicans — Reps. Don Bacon of Nebraska and Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania. Rep. Kevin Kiley, an Independent from California, became the final signature required to force the vote. Kiley said the bill would help strengthen Ukraine's leverage to advance a durable peace. "We must also send a strong message that Russian support for Iran's targeting of U.S. military assets will not be tolerated," Kiley said in a statement explaining his support for the petition. But Speaker Mike Johnson voiced concerns about the timing of the vote. "I'm talking with some of the sponsors of that right now," Johnson said. "… The latest news out of Russia is that it looks like the war is scaling back, scaling down, coming to a conclusion. I think Vladimir Putin said that himself in the last few days, and so this would be a good time for Congress to see how that pans out. So I'm going to be talking to my colleagues about that." The fighting continuesTrump said Tuesday he believes Moscow and Kyiv will soon reach a deal to end fighting. "The end of the war in Ukraine I really think is getting very close," Trump said as he left the White House for a summit in Beijing. "Believe it or not, it's getting closer." Putin said in a speech last weekend that his invasion of Ukraine is possibly "coming to an end." But on Wednesday, Russia fired at least 800 drones in a massive daytime barrage across Ukraine, killing at least six people and wounding dozens, including children, in one of the longest attacks by Moscow in the 4-year-old war, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said. Fitzpatrick said he did not agree that the war is near a conclusion and the only way he would not vote for the Meeks measure would be if Russia withdrew its forces from Ukraine. "There's people dying as we speak, so no, the war is not winding down," Fitzpatrick said. Meeks said that it was time for lawmakers to go on the record about where they stand. "Members of Congress, some tell me that they are supportive of Ukraine. Well, we're going to finally get a vote on the floor to make that determination," Meeks said. He said he believes the House vote will "put pressure on the Senate and I think it should tell the president that America is looking and we want to stand by our allies and not Vladimir Putin." Prospects in the SenateLawmakers have for months discussed various proposals to sanction Russia, but much of that talk disappeared when Trump launched an attack on Iran in late February. While Senate Republicans have mostly been supportive of Ukraine, they have hesitated to act without Trump's support. On Wednesday, Senate Majority Leader John Thune expressed skepticism that the Senate could move to Russia sanctions, saying "we have such a pileup" of other legislation. Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, who has pushed for a Russia sanctions bill in the Senate, said Wednesday, "There are parts of the House bill I like, parts of it that I don't." Republicans and Democrats alike have also been frustrated that the Department of Defense has not spent $400 million in military aid for Ukraine that lawmakers allotted last year. During a hearing earlier this week, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the Pentagon was working on a plan to spend those funds. Support for Ukraine has been a major point of tension between Congress and Trump, who pledged to quickly settle the war once he was president. Instead, he has struggled to show progress toward a peace deal even as his administration has often moved to withdraw support for both Ukraine and the rest of Europe.