on the air from washington, the ukrainian voice of america program chastai, i'm maria prus, congratulations. the us congress plans to begin considering new funding for further aid packages for ukraine as early as this week. special closed briefings are currently held there with the participation of secretary of state anthony blinken, pentagon chief lloyd austin, and director of national intelligence evril gaines. at the same time , the speaker of the congress, mike johnson, wrote a letter in response to the white house that any additional funding for ukraine depends on the cited transformational changes in the laws on security on the us-mexico border. our congress correspondent is monitoring the situation. kateryna lisonova.

hello katsyu, you had the opportunity to talk with the legislators after this closed briefing. please tell me what the officials of the white house reported there? yes, congratulations maria, congratulations to our viewers. in general , today the officials of the white duma report to the legislators of both the house of representatives and the senate. and without warning in the house of representatives, the report ended literally an hour ago. in general, average those reporting to the legislators, the head of the department of state of the united states of america, anthony blinken, also the secretary of defense of the united states of america, lloyd austin, in addition, avril heinst, the director of national intelligence, and general charles brown, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, and also isabelle coleman , a representative of the us agency for international development. based on who is present, who reports to the legislators, it is possible to understand that they are talking not only about defense aid to ukraine, but also about humanitarian

and economic. the latter have already exhausted themselves, as the representatives of the white house reported directly. i spoke with lawmakers, both democrats and republicans, after these hearings, note that this briefing is closed, reporters are not allowed in, but actually all the lawmakers in the house of representatives were present, and they directly agreed on this in their comments when answered my questions that the main topic of this report was to call on congress... to continue aid to ukraine, to agree on an aid package in general partners that need our help to continue to do that, i think we 're all very worried about helping ukraine, we 're getting to the point where they're running out of support, we need help as quickly as possible to help ukraine survive as a country . the message we heard from the us administration last week was very clear. we have clear goals in ukraine, we will not retreat now. just because

there is no guarantee of complete victory, the return of the entire territory by ukraine, there is no reason stop and refuse to support ukraine. as i said, the white house needs to change course on its southern border strategy. it was a disaster for the united states. we've all seen it. on our southern border, young girls are sold into sexual slavery. meanwhile, the white house wants to allocate $100 billion to additional funds. for the rest of the world, secure our country, do it, then we have something to talk about, and besides, there's nothing to talk about, we've just heard the comments from the house of representatives after the briefing, but i will note that a similar briefing of representatives of the white house is taking place right now, right now at this very moment, it started in the senate and noted that the leader of the democrats in the senate, in fact the leader of the majority chakummer announced that during the briefing in the senate there will be not only reports from

the white house, but also as well as a separate video message of the president of ukraine, volodymyr zelskyi. katsua, well, actually, in the senate they said that there will be a vote this week on the probable financing of further aid to ukraine. when can this happen? i will note that chuck schumer, the leader of the democrats and a leader in fact majority in the senate. when he reported that during the briefing from the white house, there will also be a video address from volodymyr zelenskyi in the senate today. he also noted that he will start this week. the first procedural vote will be held for aid to ukraine and, in general, for the package of aid to both ukraine and israel and taiwan and for strengthening border protection, in general, the entire package that the white house previously asked about, and the first procedural vote will take place this week, although the senate did not specify , which number is expected to be will take place later this week, but no specific date has been announced yet. i note that there are also representatives of both republicans and democrats. the leaders speaking in the senate

called for an actual agreement on additional aid to ukraine and its partners, but here, too, during their speeches , differences between democrats and republicans were clearly felt, and in particular , the latter republicans insist that no aid should be agreed until the white house agrees to increase migration legislation and strengthening the protection of the border of the united states america with mexico, i suggest listening to the statements of the leaders of the republicans in the senate right now. by the end of the year, it is important that the senate passes an emergency additional package for national security, which provides for civilian assistance to ukraine and israel. gas and deterring adversaries in the indo-pacific region. both parties understand that if we fail to do this, the consequences will be serious. the allocation of additional aid is delayed not because of disputes over ukraine or israel or the indo-pacific region, but because of decisions

republicans to add far-right immigration measures to that package. democrats agree that immigration needs to be discussed and resolved, but if republicans want to do it now, they should be the ones to come up with bipartisan proposals. senate republicans know that national security starts with border security, and we've made it clear that for a senate vote on any issue we'll be considering in the coming days, it must include major changes in surveillance policy the border crisis created by the biden administration. but it seems that some of our colleagues are not ready to be serious. katso, and lastly, what is in the letter of republican speaker johnson to the white house? in fact, this letter is a letter in response to the letter bileydim sent to congress, in which bileydim demands that an additional aid package be approved for all partners, but in fact this letter

emphasizes the fact that the republicans stand their ground and that no aid to the partners should be approved , until immigration is directly strengthened legislation from the states of america and increased protection of the usa, the us border with mexico. thank you, katya. kateryna lisunova told the latest news about american aid to ukraine from the capitoline hill. ukrainian officials in washington are calling these days to support ukraine and accept aid. among them is the head of the office of the president of ukraine andriy yermak. at the event at the institute, he called on congress to accept additional funding for ukraine as soon as possible. without this help, there is a great risk of losing the war, he emphasized. if the help is now discussed in the congresses will be delayed, not to say, rejected, it will create a great risk

that we will be in the same environment in which we are now. and of course, this will most likely make it impossible to continue liberating territories and create a large. the risk of losing the war. if we are talking about direct budget support, it is important to understand that during this terrible war, of course, with your support and the support of our partners, we are alive, our country is alive, our people are returning to ukraine. and of course, without this direct budget support, there will be it's hard to keep it in a state where people can survive, to really be able to survive in this situation, when the war goes on, life is important, to vote for this support. and voted as quickly as possible. and one of the leaders of the ukrainian opposition, petro poroshenko, said in an exclusive comment for the voice of america that he planned during personal meetings in europe and america to convince representatives of the american congress and the countries of the european union

to vote for providing aid to ukraine. resources that were covered by american funds remained for only one week. both ukrainian soldiers and the ukrainian nation are waiting for ammunition, waiting for the necessary equipment to fight for freedom, for democracy, because this is a war for freedom and democracy, not only for ukrainian sovereignty. i believe the next 10 days are the most important days in our history. this is a very narrow window of opportunity to launch. negotiations for accession to the european union and the very important work in washington to motivate the congressional vote for a package of 61 billion dollars for armed forces of ukraine and to finance ukraine's fight against russian aggression. the people's deputy made this statement while, according to him, being

on the contact line in the east of ukraine. last friday, ex-president petro poroshenko was denied permission to leave ukraine for a planned meeting with meps and representatives of the us congress. what can give american lawmakers a sense of urgency when it comes to approving new funding for ukraine and why is it important. that the voices of the ukrainian opposition should also be represented in washington, that is my opinion colleague ostapyarish asked people's deputy of ukraine, oleksiy honcharenko, who is currently in the usa. today, the help of the usa is an absolute necessity for us to succeed, and if we do not succeed, it will be a joint colossal defeat of both ukraine and the united states of america, with terrible consequences for the world, and the impression that putin has already been stopped, it is unfortunately not true. and we still need to stop russia, and for this we need this support and therefore the united states

of america, which is also fighting for the international law, and for democracy, and for the values ​​we all have in common, and actually for our own image, because the united states invested a lot in ukraine and in our victory, and all these delays today, they call into question the ultimate the result for which we are fighting, it is obvious that the crisis in the middle east, the war in the middle east, has very seriously shifted the focus of attention from ukraine, this is a huge problem, and we also need to solve it, but i repeat, there are too many, and here you can't delay what actually could add that sense of urgency to american lawmakers now? well, the fact that today russia is really on the offensive, the fact that russia is really pressing on absolutely all areas of the front today, the fact that, god forbid, russia will be at least partially successful in ukraine, it will be a monster that

will have to be stopped from now on already with the blood of the nato military, well, imagine, russia, which has achieved at least partial success in ukraine, the economy is already on military rails, sanctions, they have already survived them and are not afraid, they have acquired fantastic experience, in fact today there are two armies in the world that know what the great war of the 21st century is, they are ukrainian and russian, and does anyone... think that after this putin will stop, return the country to some kind of peaceful path, well, he will to attack further, yes, yes, maybe it will be kazakhstan, maybe it will be georgia, but sooner or later he will test the fifth article of nato, where the american military will have to shed its blood in order to stop this monster, so having a unique opportunity today, thanks to the ukrainian armed forces and the resistance of the ukrainian nation, today there is a unique chance for the free world to stop it now, but it simply cannot be wasted. what is the importance, or

representatives of various parties, including the ukrainian opposition, were represented in washington. why is it important, or have you also heard these voices? well, because first of all, we have to show that this is the unified position of the whole of ukraine. ukraine is unique in this, absolutely, we have many internal disputes, but there is no dispute about the fact that the enemy must be stopped and defeated. this is our common opinion. secondly, well, this. it's absolutely normal and the americans only understand it that way, when they go somewhere overseas, it's always a democrat and a republican, that's how it should be, because they're not representing their party there, they're representing the country, so i think it's very it is important that we constantly demonstrate that we are united in the main, and by demonstrating this unity, we make it more possible and faster to make decisions necessary for ukraine, artillery shells of 155 caliber are critically important ammunition for the defense forces of ukraine, although ukraine has established its own production,

most of these weapons for the armed forces come from the usa and europe, but over the last month, washington has reduced these supplies by a third, because of this, ukraine was forced to reduce the intensity of its own artillery. experts told my colleague iryna solomko about this. when and how to overcome this problem, see in its plot. philip carber, a military expert and the founder of the descendants foundation, returned from the front a few days ago, says that he saw with his own eyes, how much the intensity of artillery shelling by the ukrainians has decreased. the reason is the decrease in stocks of 155- caliber shells. therefore, they are using less and less every day, trying to save, which means that the ability of the ukrainians to compensate for the numerical advantage of the russians is decreasing, and especially now, when they are trying... this is one of the explanations why the russian attacks in avdiivka had a certain

success, even though the russians suffered huge losses, they were able to increase the encirclement a little, so the ukrainian guys scary, they desperately need this ammunition. the decrease in the intensity of shelling is also evidenced by satellite images of the front line, says george baros, an analyst on russia and ukraine at the institute for the study of war in washington. areas of the contact line, we do not see new craters at the rate at which they appeared, for example, from june to august. baros adds, this situation is not only with artillery ammunition for the sample, but also with missiles for atakams and hymers, it is important for ukrainians to fire at long ranges, the number of missiles that the united states provides for this type of weapons is likely not enough. in october, the ukrainians struck the airbase in occupied berdyansk, but since then we have not seen any new attacks. and we know that initially few such missiles were sent, so there is

a need to improve the supply of long-range munitions. karber explains from the start. full-scale invasion, the russians had 10 times more artillery systems and supplies for them than the ukrainians. anti-navigation systems and projectiles which ukraine received from western partners, the old soviet ones prevail in their efficiency. currently, according to karber, they make up to 25% of ukraine's artillery capabilities. and these 25% are three to seven times more efficient than the old soviet ones, so ukrainians can. compensate for a large part of the quantitative superiority of the russians. but remember that the ukrainians have this advantage only with western artillery. if they use old systems, the russians have an advantage. that is why, according to experts, stable supplies nato-type projectiles are so important for the ukrainian military. ryan brops, a senior

analyst at the foundation for defense of democracies, attributes the decline in american supplies to the war between israel and hamas. the united states planned to transfer 155 mm shells from israel's stockpiles to ukraine, but after the conflict with hamas broke out, the united states is sending them to israel. israel requested 57 shells. tzahal said they used 13,000 before the ceasefire. for comparison, ukraine used from six to 800 shells per day, in the midst of a counteroffensive and received over. 2 million shells from the united states alone. so the situation with israel is likely to cause some shortage in the short term, but compared to the overall need, it's not that big of a deal. a much bigger problem is that , according to sama cranny evans, an analyst at the royal joint institute for defense studies, the war in ukraine has virtually

depleted the supply of 155 rounds in both the us and europe, and production is not keeping up with demand. brobs adds, since the beginning of the invasion the us has already increased production of these munitions from 12,000 to 2,800 per month, but the pentagon's goal is to reach 1,000 projectiles per month by the end of 2025. therefore, the projectiles that ukraine will receive in the future will probably be new, not stocks. it will continue to be so. however, in order to achieve this goal, funding must be increased. in november, douglas bush, assistant secretary of the army for acquisition. of logistics and technology said the army expects congress to approve an increase in funding for these needs to $3.1 billion. karber adds that will help establish stable, not short-term work. the problem is short-term contracts, contractors don't want to work like that, and congress won't pass a budget, get it closed and people can

have reasonable long-term contracts, and that will help everyone, because it's not just a problem. ukraine, this is a critical issue for the survival of american forces, as well as allies. we need to build 10 times more inventory than we have and we need to do that production within the next 12 months and that's a challenge. in general, the volume of stocks is small and the reduction of their production in recent decades, brobst explains that the basis of the us war tactics is air strikes, in contrast to russia and ukraine, where the main striking force is artillery, which the military also calls the god of war, and the war in ukraine helps the west understand the specifics of waging such a full-scale war. the experience of ukraine showed how unprepared the united states really is for a large-scale war. and of course, this is one of the reasons why the pentagon is currently insisting that america increase production projectiles baros adds that the ukrainians currently have

considerable experience in conducting hostilities, and the american military can learn from them . as for ammunition, according to experts, the reduction in supplies is short-term, so it will not have a significant impact on the overall course of hostilities, because the production of projectiles is increasing and partners do not waive their obligations. from new york irena solomku, pavlo terekhov, voice of america. on december 5, the world celebrates the international volunteer day. from the beginning of the invasion of russia in 2014 , the lion's share of meeting the needs at the front and in the rehabilitation of veterans fell on volunteers in ukraine and abroad. we continue to tell the story. public organizations and local initiatives in the usa and ukraine. our next story is about the idea of ​​eco-activists from odesa, who collect recycled materials and funds for

the armed forces. are told by anna kostyuchenko and pavel sukhodolskyi. good morning, friends, we are already at the first location and are waiting for you. 30-year-old volunteer sement toruta is moving along the odesa eco-route with like-minded people. their goal is to collect secondary raw materials that will be brought by the locals. cement announced the meeting places in advance on social networks. lids, right? covers, great. all the collected secondary raw materials from cardboard to plastic can be sold to processors and with these funds buy tactical equipment for fighters or buy drones - says semyon. this kind of ordinary plastic can be turned into 900 hryvnias if a whole bus is filled with it. if 1,500 hryvnias will turn out to be cardboard. but if you fill this bead with polyethylene, you can get it. for it more than uah 6,000 odessa residents say that they accumulate secondary raw materials not only to preserve the environment, but also to help the armed forces. the very thought that

we are converting plastic, first of all, and secondly, we are helping with ssu, is what struck me. i really want my brother to return from the war, i miss him very much, and i want victory in ukraine, all for our victory, we really do. we are very much looking forward to every, every, every, every guy here at home. every time there are dozens of locations on the eco-route. on the way, semyon tells, he took participated in hostilities against separatists in donbas in 2014. within a year, he returned to civilian life and started his own business supplying food to odesa restaurants. however , the full-scale invasion of russia forced him to change his own plans. in march 2022 , the man founded a public organization and devoted himself to volunteering, this is how these light bulbs are collected for volunteers who turn them into battery-powered light bulbs for

our defenders, now he plans to turn his initiative into a social enterprise that will create jobs and will allow to significantly increase the volume of collected secondary raw materials. oh, cardboard, look at how it is folded, just fantastic, yes, except here... there are many more, the most expensive raw material from paper is white paper. individual odessans accumulate and sort recyclables for several months, and then call semen's team to take out the collected containers or cardboard. uah 250 is enough for us to simply come and pick up secondary raw materials and again send these secondary raw materials to help, we receive cardboard boxes from businesses, sorted garbage from people who cook at home, our volunteers walk, walk with their animals and on the way collect just bottles on the street, you can start with a simple one from cardboard, metal, polyethylene, a scrap of

what really is a lot, one a person in everyday life can collect three or four bags of sorted garbage in a week, says semyon. you see, this bottle is every clean, this person responsible for this collection treats, in addition to the donation, he also prepares raw materials that are perfectly clean, that is, raw materials that will cost more, than dirty each of us, i know for sure, has a glass, and if we combine all our resources, we will definitely buy a drone for the guys, ugh, here, and in this way we will close the collection and win, the village of fedorivka, upload to the odessa initiative already some villages of the kherson region also joined, the volunteers say, look how well everything turned out, i want to promote the village of federivka. uhu, yes, yes, near kherson, we told them about the fact that we collect and sort garbage, and they started doing it in their community. when i arrived

it seemed to me that i had come to a cardboard supermarket, it was so neatly laid out that it was as if i had come to buy containers, the food that had been collected during the day was already in the warehouse, the volunteers were putting it into different groups, here is cardboard, there is paper, bottles, bags with bags , glass, glass right here, if you collect 800 kg of broken glass - the man says, then you can get about 500 dollars, this is the cost of one fpv drone, for the promotion of which we will beat transparent glass, beat colored glass, any glass will turn into for help, these are the things we have for our friends we will take them away, they will cut them into pellets and whatever... in the form of pellets, it is much more expensive, but a mine fell near my house, we collected all the plastic windows that were broken, put the glass next to the glass, cleaned the plastic from

the concrete under... and all such extras, we are waiting for a buyer to come and take them from us, this plastic, if crushed into granules, will be the raw material for the production of a new plastic product of some kind. cement also launched a social initiative for veterans undergoing rehabilitation in odessa, he invites them to picnics by the sea, where you can meet fellow citizens and just relax. we create space for them and an opportunity to distract themselves a little. of all that is happening to them now, because one veteran may be in the hospital, another at home alone, and he has no one to share the feelings that are inside him with, some other veteran may be finding an outlet in alcohol right now, i am like that thus creates an event for them that shows that without alcohol and without foreign substances you can have a great time, rehabilitate, to communicate, to play, 32-year-old dmytro from odessa

is relaxing in nature for the first time. after returning from the front. he got there in january 2023 due to mobilization, fought in zaporizhzhia, where he received several serious injuries. such a direction is very, very, very insidious, they really spank a lot there. semyon says that such initiatives can easily be implemented throughout the unoccupied part of ukraine and is looking for like-minded people in other cities and villages who will organize their own eco-routes. anna kostyuchenko, pavel sukhodolskyi for the voice. america from odesa region. download the voice of america mobile app. the application allows you to bypass blocking automatically thanks to the built-in vpn service. read news, watch informative programs and videos, and also listen to podcasts of the ukrainian voice of america service. on this we conclude in the studio maria prus worked for you.

see also our daily. and facebook, where you can ask our presenters your questions live. thank you for your trust, see you on the air. greetings, we are looking for this girl, her name is angelina zavatska, she is 17 years old, she has disappeared angelina in the city of kherson, it happened at the end of the 22nd year, unfortunately, the exact date of the girl’s disappearance is unknown, so it is possible that even before the liberation of kherson, she could have been taken to the territory of russia, of course, this is

only about being released and angelina can stay as territory controlled by ukraine, for example, in the temporarily occupied part of the kherson region. so i ask everyone who sees this video to look at the girl's face as carefully as possible. if you know anything about angelina zavadska, do not delay and immediately report to our hotline by the short number 1163. if you do not have the opportunity to call, you can always write to us on the website or to the chatbot of the children's search service in telegram. also, i really ask you to repost this video. perhaps one of your friends or acquaintances will recognize angelina and help you find her, or find out at least some information about her. do not remain indifferent and let's try to find angelina zavatska together.