Biden signs Ukraine aid, TikTok ban package after Republican battle

U.S. President Joe Biden signed a hard-fought bill into law on Wednesday that provides billions of dollars of new U.S. aid to Ukraine, notching a rare bipartisan victory for the president as he seeks reelection and ending months of wrangling with Republicans in Congress.

"It gives vital support to America's partners so they can defend themselves from threats to their sovereignty," Biden said.

The bill includes $61 billion in aid to Ukraine and $26 billion for Israel, as well as $1 billion in humanitarian assistance to Gaza.

The impact of the legislation was immediate. Biden said he had approved an initial $1 billion in weapons supplies for Ukraine and that the flow of these arms would start within hours.

The initial aid package includes vehicles, Stinger air defense munitions, additional ammunition for high-mobility artillery rocket systems, 155 mm artillery ammunition, and Javelin anti-tank munitions and other weapons that can immediately be put to use on the battlefield.

Meanwhile, Ukraine for the first time has begun using long-range ballistic missiles provided secretly by the United States, bombing a Russian military airfield in Crimea last week and Russian forces in another occupied area overnight, American officials confirmed Wednesday. The U.S. is providing more of the Army Tactical Missile System, known as ATACMS, in the new military package, according to one official who was not authorized to comment and spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Former President Donald Trump objected to the Ukraine aid, and some Republicans in Congress refused to back it, questioning whether Ukraine could ever prevail. Biden thanked House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson, the top Republican in Washington, for breaking the deadlock on the legislation and vowed to return soon to addressing border security, a top issue for Republicans.

On Ukraine issues, Biden and House Speaker Johnson held intense talks in February and the president has both pleaded with Republicans to back the package and scolded them for not doing so. Johnson, who faces calls by some right-leaning Republicans to oust him for his turnaround on aid, met with Trump in Florida earlier this month; the former president said Johnson was "doing a really good job."

Biden also signed a separate bill tied to the aid legislation that bans TikTok in the United States if its owner, the Chinese tech firm ByteDance, fails to divest the popular short video app over the next nine months to a year.

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(With input from agencies)