Republican border demands could derail Ukraine aid

US Republican lawmakers look likely to block legislation partly aimed at providing more aid to Ukraine on Wednesday after a briefing devolved into shouting matches and angry barbs.

The $110bn (£87.3bn) package includes $61bn for Ukraine, as well as funds for Israel and aid for Gaza.

But it does not include the sweeping immigration and asylum reforms sought by Republicans.

The White House has warned that US aid for Ukraine could run out by January.

Ukrainian and White House officials have said that a failure to provide additional aid could ultimately lead to a Russian victory on the battlefield.

A classified briefing aimed at shoring up support for new funds broke down spectacularly on Tuesday after lawmakers began shouting at each other over border security. At least a dozen Republican senators walked out.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky also cancelled a virtual briefing with lawmakers over a "last-minute matter", Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said on Tuesday, without providing further detail.

While the $110bn package already includes provisions for border security, Republican insistence on additional changes to asylum rules has complicated negotiations with Democrats. While the party's members are overwhelmingly in favour of aid to Ukraine, some have sought to use the issue as a way address mounting domestic concerns over the US southern border.

Senate Republicans now say they will reject a procedural vote by Mr Schumer to bring the package to the floor, along with an offer that Republicans could craft an amendment to the bill that would include immigration if they move to a vote.

"I'm advocating and I hope all of our members vote no on the motion....to make the point, hopefully for the final time, that we insist on meaningful changes to the border," Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell told reporters on Tuesday.

Even if it passes in the Senate, the package still faces an uphill battle in the House of Representatives.

At a news conference on Tuesday, House Speaker Mike Johnson said he has told the Senate he cannot pass any Ukraine aid without the inclusion of significant border security measures.

The Senate bill needs nine Republican votes to advance - a threshold it is doubtful it will meet, with even some Republicans who are strong supporters of Ukraine saying they are unlikely to support it.

Maine Republican Senator Susan Collins - a longtime supporter of aid for Ukraine - told the Washington Post that she is "definitely leaning toward" voting against unless border policy changes are added.

Democratic Kentucky Senator Chris Murphy was quoted as saying by the Post that it looked like the US was "about to abandon Ukraine".

Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Congress has approved over $110bn in military and economic aid to Ukraine, most of which has already been distributed.

In a letter to Mr Johnson released publicly earlier this week, White House budget director Shalanda Young said that the US would be unable to get more weapons and equipment to Ukraine "by the end of the year" without Congressional action.

Ukrainian officials have repeatedly stressed that they see US aid as vital to the ability of the country's forces to resist the Russians and re-take occupied territory.

On Tuesday, the head of Ukraine's presidential office, Andriy Yermak, told an audience at the US Institute of Peace that a failure to secure more US aid would mean a "very high possibility" that the war will be lost and that it will be "impossible to continue to liberate" Russian-held areas.

In Ukraine, dimming prospects for additional aid have led to a darkening mood among some parts of the population.

"Of course we need support, we are protecting the whole of Europe," Tetyana, a Kyiv resident whose son is on the frontline, told the BBC this week. "We need more weapons because our children are dying."

(With additional reporting by Jessica Parker in Kyiv)