WASHINGTON, June 5,2026: The U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation on Thursday to provide aid to Ukraine and impose new sanctions on Russia, the latest sign that some Republicans are willing to defy party leaders and push back against President Donald Trump.
The House voted 226 to 195 for the Ukraine Support Act, which reached the floor after languishing for months. A handful of Republicans joined Democrats in signing a discharge petition to force the vote.
On Thursday, 18 Republicans and one independent who normally votes with them joined Democrats to pass the bill. It was the latest sign of a crack in what had been virtually unanimous support among members of Trump’s party for his policies.
Passage came a day after a smaller group of House Republicans joined Democrats to pass a resolution that would force the withdrawal of troops from hostilities with Iran unless Congress declares war or orders the use of military force.
Olha Stefanishyna, Ukraine’s ambassador to the United States, in a post on X called the decision ‘an important step forward and (which) reflects continued bipartisan support for Ukraine’.
FUTURE OF SUPPORT ACT UNCERTAIN
However, the future of the Ukraine Support Act is uncertain. To become law it must be passed in the Senate, whose Republican leaders have not allowed votes on Russia sanctions legislation that has broad bipartisan support, saying they would wait for Trump’s guidance.
If it did pass the Senate, the bill would likely be vetoed by Trump.
While many members of Congress from both parties strongly supported Ukraine in the first years after Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, some of Trump’s closest Republican allies – including House and Senate leadership – have grown cooler towards Kyiv since Trump returned to the White House in January 2025.
The president has also kept decisions on sanctions at the White House, not Congress, since starting his second term.
U.S. aid to the Kyiv government has slowed sharply even as Russia and Ukraine have been pummeling each other with missiles, drones and artillery. Peace talks are stalled, with Ukraine rejecting Russian President Vladimir Putin’s demand that it surrender territory it has successfully defended since 2022.
The Ukraine Support Act includes measures to help Ukraine rebuild after the war, authorizes more than $1 billion in assistance for Kyiv, and up to $8 billion in support via direct loans.
It also imposes stiff sanctions and export controls on Russia, including on financial institutions, oil and mining and Russian officials.
The passage comes as the European Union, another Ukraine’s ally, agreed this week to open talks with Kyiv on the first cluster of issues in their accession talks. That followed an agreement on a 90 billion euro loan distribution to boost Ukraine’s defense and economy.
Ottawa : Shots rang out at a school in western Canada today, leaving four people dead and several others critically injured . Authorities did not disclose the age and identify of the shooter and victims.
Several witnesses reported seeing a “boy,” who was either a student or formerly attended the school, opening fire inside the building.
“I ran outside the school,” Noel Desjarlais, a Grade 10 student at the school, told public broadcaster CBC.
“There was lots of screaming. There was about six, seven shots before I got outside. I believe there was more shots by the time I did get out.”
The town’s hospital told AFP they were treating the victims for gunshot wounds.
The high school and a nearby elementary school were locked down as police responded.
The suspected shooter was taken into custody after police received an emergency call about “a person discharging a weapon in the community,” RCMP superintendent Maureen Levy told reporters.
“Obviously, this is every parent’s worst nightmare,” said Prime Minster Justin Trudeau.
Trudeau held a news conference in Davos, Switzerland, where he was attending the World Economic Summit, to announce the death toll in the remote northern aboriginal community of La Loche in the province of Saskatchewan.
Trudeau said five people had been killed and two others were in critical condition but a Royal Canadian Mounted Police spokeswoman later revised the death toll down to four.
La Loche students said they heard six or seven shots ring out at around 1:00 pm local time (1900 GMT).
Located deep in Canada’s northern boreal forest, 600 kilometers north of Saskatoon, this town of about 3,000 is particularly isolated and authorities had to send in police reinforcements and dispatch a medical helicopter to airlift some victims to a hospital.
On December 6, 1989, a 25-year-old man opened fire at the Polytechnic School in Montreal, killing 14 people, including 10 female students.
Unlike in the US, shootings are rare in Canada, where firearms are more regulated than south of the border.
@Agency report