Today [Dec. 16, 2015], a coalition of advocates and stakeholders advocating enhanced U.S. economic, military and humanitarian assistance for Ukraine (list of organizations follow below) issued the following statement in response to the passage of the Fiscal Year 2016 omnibus appropriations bill:

The Ukraine Working Group welcomes passage of the Fiscal Year 2016 omnibus appropriations bill, which includes vital economic, military, and humanitarian assistance for Ukraine. These resources will build upon the $190 million in new assistance recently announced by Vice President Biden in Kyiv.

While we believe the funding levels approved in this bill demonstrate the United States’ continued commitment to an independent and free Ukraine, we are concerned that the amount of assistance still falls short of what is needed to comprehensively address the critical economic, security, and humanitarian relief needs of the Ukrainian people.

As organizations dedicated to ensuring that Ukraine thrives as a free, democratic nation, we urge Congress and the Obama administration to provide strong American leadership and much-needed increases in Ukraine assistance in the months ahead as part of the Fiscal Year 2017 budget.

The Ukraine Working Group includes the American Center for a European Ukraine; American Hungarian Federation; American Latvian Association; Armenian Assembly of America; Belarusan-American Association; Estonian American National Council; Georgian Association in the USA; Hungarian American Coalition; Joint Baltic American National Committee; Lithuanian American Community, Inc.; Lithuanian-American Council; New International Leadership Institute; Polish American Congress; Slovak League of America; Ukrainian Congress Committee of America; Ukrainian Federation of America; U.S.-Ukraine Foundation; and the Volya Institute For Contemporary Law And Society.

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