you are watching the program of the ukrainian voice of america chas tym, i'm natalya leonova, congratulations. the house of representatives elected a new speaker. congressman mike johnson, a republican, received 220 votes, surpassing the 215-vote threshold needed to be confirmed in office. mike johnson was the fourth republican candidate for speaker of the house, which has been without a speaker for three weeks. our correspondent ostap yarysh is following the events in the congress, he will tell us the latest news from the capitol right now. congratulations ostap. congratulations natalya. the rest of what we have know about the new speaker of the house of representatives. what is his position and track record regarding aid to ukraine? yes, natalya, the new speaker, 51-year-old mike johnson from louisiana, an ultra-conservative congressman, a republican, and he became the fourth

nominee for this position in recent weeks, who was nominated by the republican party, and he actually got all the votes of all the republicans right now, it was not an easy way, but it looks like this, the party has united around this candidate, in fact, he does not hold leadership positions in the party, he is not the most even the copper representative of the republicans in the congress, many people may not have heard of him until the last two weeks from those people who do not particularly follow the events on the capital hill, however, this is the new speaker of the house of representatives, in his, in his opening speech, after he was elected, he said he would stay in office, push the conservative agenda, also fight against what he called harmful biden administration politicians, and support allies abroad, but not specified which ones, in the speech, he mentioned that the first, the first initiative would be the actual support of israel regarding ukraine, he

did not mention it now, however, we have a list of votes regarding ukraine in the past, this list was prepared by the republicans for ukraine initiative, so for almost all initiatives to support ukraine, mike johnson voted against, he voted for the lelenlis law, for ukraine, however, he rejected the subsequent requests of the biden administration for additional support for funding, he also advocated canceling all security aid for ukraine, it was one of the amendments that did not pass. however, mike johnson was one of those congressmen who supported it, he also spoke against providing 300 million in aid to ukraine, and in the end expressed that the question of aid to ukraine is not in the national interests of the united states, because first of all we need to talk about border security, according to him, first of all , it is necessary to take care of american families and there is no need to send billions of dollars to ukrainians, as he said, these were his words, before besides, such votes, before that, let's see how he will show it now in his role as the speaker

of the house of representatives and whether he will consider the issue of additional financing of aid for ukraine and israel natal. ostape, you mentioned that mother johnson was not such a well-known politician, how did it happen that his candidacy did get the necessary number of republican votes, and how his election may affect the approval of funding for ukraine in the congress in the future. natalya, it looks like this from what we hear, from what they say themselves american supporters of the republican party are tired after a week, after weeks of being at a dead end, after weeks of misunderstandings and the inability to agree , to choose one candidate, yesterday, it seems, was a moment of unity that the republican legislators demonstrated, and even those who in the past criticized other candidates for their reluctance to support ukraine, this time they voted for mike johnson, in fact they say that this saga with the failure to elect a speaker lasted too long and it was necessary

to put aside some contradictions and finally vote in spite of this, it seems that this was the motive, and as for how it will affect in the future, we know that the position of the speaker is key, it is the speaker who means what issues to put up for consideration, how to form a political agenda, why to give priority, what to reject, therefore, of course, it is difficult to overestimate the role of the speaker in terms of how and for which bills the legislators will vote, the key question is whether he will bring up the vote for ukraine now, will it be separate from the vote for israel, or will it still be a package vote, as the white house insists, i think we'll find out, natalya, in the coming days, in the coming weeks, we'll be watching closely how mike johnson performs in the role of speaker, in particular regarding the support of ukraine, we will certainly follow, thank you stape, for your work, for the events in the house of representatives, which has just elected a new speaker, our correspondent followed.

the united states will allocate up to 150 million dollars. additional military aid to ukraine in packages, which can be announced as early as wednesday, three american officials told voice of america. the australian ministry of defense announced a new package of defense aid to ukraine in the amount of 20 million australian dollars the day before. the usa and australia share democratic values ​​and jointly condemn russia's war in ukraine and hamas's war against israel. this was announced by president joe biden and prime minister of australia anthony albanis during an official visit to australia. to washington. more about the progress of this visit and the new defense aid ukraine, we will talk with yulia yarmolenko, who joins our ether from the white house. congratulations yulia. congratulations natalya. yuli, before we talk about the australian prime minister's visit and military aid to ukraine. i would like

to ask you about the latest developments in congress. the house of representatives has just elected a new speaker. what is the reaction of the white house? you know, natalya, president biden went to a press conference. here in the white house, just as the house of representatives was wrapping up its vote for a new one the speaker, the speaker of the house of representatives, and joe biden, talking to reporters, said that he was literally told before he went to the press conference that it was supposed that the house of representatives had elected a new leader, and he said, i hope that's true because we've got to move, we've got to move, the president said, apparently referring to a number of legislative initiatives that are now a priority. approval, and in particular, we know that the package of additional financing is not only for ukraine, but also for israel, and other important initiatives that president biden sent last week is definitely a priority for the white house. journalists also asked joe biden whether he is worried that mike

johnson, who in 2020, denied the results of the presidential election, whether president biden is worried if he is elected in 2024. is mike johnson johnson not going to want to, say, overturn the results of this election, and president biden said he's not worried because he knows the constitution and all the attempts to somehow overturn the 2020 election have not been effective, so he looks at it quite optimistically, and in the natal white house, we know, they waited for a very long time until the republicans and legislators in general decided on a new speaker. yulia, what is known about the new package of american... aid to ukraine, what capacities will it include and what are the terms of its provision? natalya, we do not have an official announcement yet, but our correspondent in the pentagon, carla bap , reports that a new package of military aid for ukraine in the amount of 150 million dollars is indeed being prepared, which should include ammunition

for the heimers, i.e. the gimlers missiles, and it should also include ammunition for the nasams systems, in addition to the 155 mm caliber artillery shells that are expected to be laid down as well, for which there have now been a number of concerns about whether the united states will be able to provide enough to both ukraine and israel, which both israel needs them, and in the white house, particularly in the pentagon, i'm sorry, pat ryder said last week that the united states is confident that it can provide enough of these munitions to both countries, so we will keep an eye on these announcements, it's not official yet, but we're expecting it. she announced everything about the new aid package to ukraine. and australia, and its prime minister antonio albanese is being received by president biden today at the white house. yulia, in general, what role does ukraine play in the us-australian partnership, and what details do you have about the new australian aid package to ukraine? you know, natalya, this is a state visit by the australian

prime minister, and i will emphasize this visit once again, or the white house wants this visit to be emphasized how strong the friendship and partnership of these two countries is, especially in light of how the united states wants to strengthen its ties with the pacific region in order to nevertheless reduce the threat of potential aggression by china, and we know that a number of very important topics on the agenda of this visit, as announced by president biden and the prime minister, they agreed, in particular to strengthen cooperation in the technological field, in particular in the field of artificial intelligence, also medicine, climate, but also one of the big in fact, the things that underline this relationship is their partnership: to address global challenges, and as president biden said today, the topic of ukraine was certainly a topic of conversation, particularly the continued support for ukraine, and indeed, australia announced a new military aid package for ukraine on the amount of 20 million australian dollars, that's 13 million us dollars,

approximately, before it, this package includes anti-drone systems, also systems for demining, and as he himself said prime minister albaniz, he said that he stands firmly with ukraine, and this package of military aid, it precisely includes military capabilities that are strengthened by australian innovative technologies that will be useful to ukrainians, and today president biden at this press -conference just thanked the australian prime minister for this partnership for the sake of helping ukraine, we can listen to his words. we also see the strength of our alliance and the unwavering support of both states of ukraine, which defends its own sovereignty from putin, his brutality and aggression. australia is an important partner along with the united states and 50 other countries that we were able to unite to

support ukraine. i want to thank you, mr. prime minister, for the new package and military aid for ukraine that you recently announced. and you know, natalya, these words about the fact that in general the partnership of the united states and australia is extremely important in order to fight, and against these global challenges, this basin was sounded at the very beginning, you solemnly received here of prime minister albeniz this morning with honors and in particular prime minister albeniz himself said that in fact the partnership that the united states and australia have is not a partnership against some enemy, it is a partnership to support common values, and in particular values freedom and democracy, and today, before the start of the meeting in the oval office, albanitz once again emphasized why it is important that these two countries are...' cooperate together, he said that at a time when there are so many uncertainties in the world, so many challenges, must

so that these countries stand together, let's listen to his words before the start of the meeting in the white house. in today's volatile world , the alliance between australia and the united states, and how we stand firm against aggression, be it russia's illegal invasion of ukraine or hamas' terrorist attack on israel. this is something you can count on, we stand behind our shared values. these were the words of prime minister albanese today. dately, i will tell you a little more about this state visit, in general, state visits to the united states are reserved for the greatest friends of the united states in the world, and today , after the long negotiations at the white house have ended here, there will also be a ceremonial part, when the prime minister of australia, as well as.. .his wife will be feted at a state dinner

, which again is reserved for the greatest friends of the united states, and once again president biden emphasized how important it is now that australia and the united states work together, especially for the white home, in order to show that the white house is standing, in particular for the sake of security and democracy in the windy hookan region, this is important at a time when the war is going on now in the middle east, invaded ukraine, this is all important to show that players such as russia or china, so that they do not expect to continue to be aggressive in either region. thank you for your work, julia yaromolenko followed the visit of the australian prime minister, she joined our ether from the white house. australia systematically provides assistance to ukraine from the beginning of full-scale aggression of russia, armored vehicles bushmas. became one of the symbols of australian support.

the ambassador of ukraine to australia and new zealand , vasyl myroshnychenko, told voice of america about this. for more about the new aid and the reasons for strong support, see his conversation with my colleague oleksiy kovalenko. australia today announced a new package of military aid to ukraine in the amount of 20 million dollars. and this is far from the first package, and the total amount of australian aid to ukraine amounted to almost 1 billion dollars, can you tell us more about the military aid that comes to ukraine from australia? australia has been supporting us since the beginning of the large-scale war, the aggression of russia, and indeed provided almost a billion in aid, but i want to correct it in australian dollars, in american dollars, it will be almost 600 million american dollars somewhere, but it provides this aid systematically, constantly, you can say yes, the icon and symbol of australian aid became known as bushmasters, these are armored personnel carriers, which precisely thanks to the shape

which, that is, they are suitable for work, as they say, in the zone at the front, australia also provided m-113, these, armored personnel carriers on tracks, there are also almost 56 of them, there was artillery, drones of various kinds, which were issued, here, help is issued systematically. every two or three months was a little more often last year, less often this year, but nevertheless, it is there, and the support for ukraine in australia is at a high level, and also, i am comforted by the package today, or the package that was announced this week , er, that's it, a package of australia's military-industrial complex, and i'll tell you a few words about what's in it and why it's important, in this case, it's directly new goods that are being developed by military-industrial complex companies, or dual-use,

so-called, but this is new equipment, and it's very useful . and we need it at the front. also, australia purchased, is purchasing and is transferring to ukraine anti-drone technology, in fact , a weapon for combating drones, this is the drone shield company. in which they also purchased equipment for metal detectors and demining equipment. on the eve of the meeting prime minister of australia and us president joe biden announced that ukraine would become one. on the topics of the meeting of the leaders of the two countries. how important is the topic of ukraine in the relations between these two partners, and what else is known about the details of the visit. the united states is australia's most important security partner. also, the united states is a major investment partner for australia. ukraine has always been a topic of negotiations at

the bilateral level, i can say this, that probably the united states also showed when the united states... a coalition in support ukraine, it was they who turned to australia at the beginning of the full-scale invasion, and it was this call from the united states that contributed to the fact that australia joined the coalition of countries that support us in this regard, and that is why the topic of ukraine is constantly, as they say , appears on the bilateral negotiations, that's it, it's well, it's very to... that's what's happening, you already mentioned that the bushmasters, the armored vehicles, the so -called bushmasters, they were elements of the previous package of packages australia's aid ukraine. what is known about the number of bushmaster armored vehicles and how they performed in battle?

90 bushmasters have already been handed over to ukraine, 30 are still on the way, bushmasters are actively working with various brigades in the east, i have seen a lot of... reports in the public space about their effectiveness, their work, to some extent, when i often talk to australians here about stereotypes our stereotypes about australia, so until recently our stereotypes were koala and kangaroo and since last year they have also become bushmasters, in addition to bushmasters, of course, there are 56 m113s, there are six units of artillery, and what ammunition, there are certain joint projects. which australia did with other countries, in particular there with france for the production of the 155 caliber, for example, and the representative of australia in the un said during the un general assembly debate that ukraine should end the war on its own terms. can you tell us more about australia's position on the peace formula for ukraine. australia generally supports the peace formula, er, indeed the minister

of foreign affairs, when she spoke at the assembly in september, there was also a separate meeting of the security council , where she clearly condemned the actions of russia, called on russia to withdraw its troops from ukraine, drew attention to the fact that, in fact, the council security needs significant changes due to the fact that a country that is a permanent member of the security council commits aggression against another state, there is support in this regard, support also occurs within the framework of this key group of countries on the international tribunal, australia joined it and also provides support in other legal aspects and in all the lawsuits that are taking place, er, and continues to er, authorize russian citizens and russian companies.

the third ukrainian action summit was held in washington. during two days, the americans and ukrainians together convinced the representatives of the congress that there is no need for further support of kyiv. this summit became the largest in terms of the number of participants, representatives from 36 states joined it. it was especially important given that the fate of the new package is being decided in congress financing for ukraine. see who took part in the summit and how the conversations with congressmen went in iryna shinkarenko's story. 17-year-old margarita keeps a video of her broken home in mariupol on her phone. for two days, she showed him in the offices of american congressmen and talked about the crimes of the russians. we came here also to talk to congressmen, senators, to tell our story so they understand. that there are many people like me, that everything, well, there is nothing in their emotions anymore, margarta and her mother are now living in the us, they were invited to participate in the third

ukrainian action summit on capitol hill, a major advocacy event in support of ukraine. thanks to ukraine, the ukrainian military came to the talks at the capitol as part of the summit to inform the representatives of the congress that there are huge needs in everything at the front. starting with ammunition, now is a very responsible period, we are preparing again, namely our brigade, we are again preparing for the offensive, time is very short, the weather conditions are deteriorating, and but now there is an opportunity to achieve great results on the front, well, there is not enough equipment, because the hostilities are very active, it is all consumables, it worked with american weapons, thank you, we need more, because weapons and armored vehicles... saves, i worked with a stinger , which were transferred to ukraine, with mkk-19, with switchblades, we need armor,

pppo, we need to protect the sky , organizers say that more than 500 participants from 36 states came to the third action summit on capitol hill. democratic congressman, mike quigley and republican congressman doug lambourn came out to the summit participants to take pictures and show their support. in total, in two days, the activists had more than 200 meetings with senators, congressmen and their aides from both leading us parties. in the absolute majority of cases, these are citizens of the united states of america, and this is what allows them to come to their representatives and talk about what they are asking for, what they are asking for support, what they are advocating for here. financial support of ukraine, support of ukraine with weapons, training f-16 pilots, there are whites that support. participants support, this is specifically the genocide in ukraine, this is the transfer to ukraine for the reconstruction of the frozen assets of the russian federation. the marquis of arizona, who had no acquaintances in ukraine

before the start of the full-scale war, and now regularly flies there as a volunteer, together with others told in the offices of congress what ukraine's victory means to him. i personally advocate that the us congress should stand with ukraine, it should win. should be part of nato, its territorial borders of 1991 should be restored. 60-70% the population of arizona supports ukraine. the rest of the population is very loud and they get information from it. so it's just a matter of convincing these people that this is an important topic and the united states has a moral obligation to help them. since the fate of the us president's new request for financial assistance to ukraine will soon be decided in congress. they say to the summit that it is important that they managed to meet with those representatives of congressmen who do not support the financing of kyiv. we have to stress that,

okay, you're concerned about the budget, 3% defense budget, less than one of the us gdp will help ukraine, so where is this budget, why can't you find the funds? congressmen work for us, they work for voters, correctly ask them such difficult questions as you say: why should your results provide information. polls indicate otherwise? there is such a moment when they do not have complete information, or maybe they somehow we are trying to explain to them what we are trying to do and the participants of the summit say, the words of voters and live communication with people who are witnesses situation in ukraine, affecting congressmen. an american who fought in ukraine for more than a year also has hope that he was able to reach politicians. in particular, as part of the armed forces. i was at a meeting with a representative of the republican party. i hope that my stories about the battles at the front and the fact that i have shared my knowledge about the assistance that

the united states has given to ukraine will have a useful application. the importance of such communication with congressmen was also emphasized by former us ambassadors to ukraine, who supported the participants of the summit. i believe that such meetings where do ukrainian americans come from? leaders, but they also listen to what people have to say, so that's extremely important. ukrainians fight for their families, for their communities, for their nation and for their existence. but while they are doing this, they are also protecting europe and the us. so the values ​​that ukrainians are fighting for are also our values. these are american values, european values. this is what we are fighting for and this is what we must tell congress. at the end of the summit, its participants

deployed, as they say, the biggest u the world the ukrainian flag flew for a few minutes on washington's national avenue. iryna shinkarenko, dmytro melnyk, vyachyslav filyushkin, voice of america. a group of people's deputies of ukraine is in washington this week, including anastasia radina, head of the verkhovna rada committee on anti-corruption policy. according to her, ukrainians during meetings in the us congress, which takes place within the framework of the initiative to support ukraine in congress. hear questions from american lawmakers about corruption threats in ukraine, but also have answers to them, my colleague yulia yarmolenko talked about this with anastasia radina on the air of the voice of america briefing program. a group of people's deputies is in washington this week, you are meeting with american officials , with american legislators, how big is the issue of corruption in your conversations with legislators

, do you, for example, have to hear that the future of american support, in particular economic, may depend on rates of overcoming corruption in ukraine. we hear this question, but we also have an answer to this question answer. we actually take a lot of measures in ukraine to fight corruption. only in the last month, we have restored the mandatory declaration of officials, we have restored the mandatory verification of the fortunes of officials, despite the war, 8,000 officials will submit declarations, these declarations... will be verified, and in case of signs of corruption, there will be criminal liability for this . we restored the rules of financial monitoring of officials, in accordance with the standards of the fed, we restored the transparency of defense procurement, therefore in ukraine has the answer to all these questions, and we definitely talk with colleagues in the congress about the need to continue supporting ukraine, military support and, of course

, support for the functioning of the state, how often do you have to hear about this concern, about the fact that the pace of overcoming corruption is not going fast enough, fast, and also, are lawmakers telling you frankly that future aid may depend on how ukraine fights corruption. we hear the desire of congressmen to see that every dollar that is provided ukraine, that every dollar has proper accountability and we have answers to this and there are institutions that are created in ukraine specifically to ensure this, that is, we hear a normal working question from colleagues in the congress, and we have an answer, this absolutely normal conversation, and of course we continue to work on strengthening anti-corruption bodies, currently the priority on the agenda of the parliament is the strengthening of one of the bodies of the specialized anti-corruption prosecutor's office, this is also our obligation within

the framework of the memorandum with the international monetary fund fund, we are working on this, we will say goodbye on this, you watched the program of the ukrainian voice of america chas time. thank you for trusting us, i'm natalia leonova, all the best. congratulations, we have great news about tens. lisa, whom we have been looking for for almost two years, we managed to establish that the girl is alive, everything is fine with her, and she is now abroad with her guardians. and the story of the search for lisa was very difficult, we did everything possible to find the girl as soon as possible, but for a long time there was nothing at all about her is known and only in september of this year we received the first, but as it turned out, extremely important call from a witness. to

the service hotline. search for children 116:30 a woman who now lives in spain called and said that she saw our program about the search for lisa on social networks and recognized the girl. this girl, this lisa - this is the face, well, these eyes, this, i am sure that this is this child. the woman said that in the spring of 2022 she was a volunteer at the red cross in barcelona and helped register refugees from ukraine, and among them she remembered ten-year-old lisa. and definitely lisa, and definitely this blonde, those eyes, that's her, that's the whole child, it was either march or april, because they were still in jackets. mrs. liana said that the girl came to barcelona from the kherson region, together with two adults, a man and a woman, and they registered in spain as refugees. they are most likely on the territory of spain,