Parubiy thanks U.S. senators for increasing security assistance to Ukraine

Verkhovna Rada Speaker Andriy Parubiy has thanked U.S. senators for supporting Ukraine and approving the Pentagon's defense budget for 2019, which provides for an increase in security assistance to Ukraine to $250 million.

He said this while opening a morning plenary meeting of parliament on Wednesday, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

"These funds are intended in particular for the intelligence support of the armed and security forces of Ukraine. I sincerely thank our allies, our colleagues in the United States, our fellow senators for the support of Ukraine. We are all aware that Ukraine's struggle against the Russian aggressor is a struggle not only for the Ukrainian state. It's a struggle for the future of the whole free world," Parubiy said.

As reported, the United States Senate approved the Pentagon's draft budget for 2019, which provides for an increase in security assistance to Ukraine to $250 million. Such a defense budget exceeds by $50 million the 2018 budget for the relevant programs of support for the Ukrainian state.

The draft National Defense Authorization Act should still be voted in the House of Representatives, and then it will be submitted for signature by the U.S. president.

op