(Adds weapons details in paragraphs 6-7 and 14-15, comments from Senator Warner in 12-13)
By Humeyra Pamuk
WASHINGTON, April 21 (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Sunday welcomed the passage of $60 billion in aid for Ukraine by the U.S. House of Representatives but urged Washington to quickly turn the bill into law and proceed with the actual transfer of weapons, saying long-range arms and air defense systems were top priorities.
In an interview with NBC's "Meet the Press", Zelenskiy said the passage of the bill would send a powerful message to Russia that Washington stands by Kyiv and that it would not be "a second Afghanistan." "I think this support will really strengthen the armed forces of Ukraine and we will have a chance for victory," Zelenskiy said through an interpreter.
During the interview he repeatedly urged U.S. lawmakers to take swift action to pass the bill in the Senate. He said Ukraine urgently needed U.S. long-range weapons including ATACMS (Army Tactical Missile Systems) and air defense systems to turn around its fortunes on the battlefield.
"This is crucial. These are the priorities now," Zelenskiy said.
ATACMS are long-range guided missiles. The White House last October confirmed that it had provided Kyiv with a type of ATACMS capable of hitting targets up to 165 km (102 miles) away.
Ukraine had repeatedly asked the U.S. administration for the ATACMS and pledged not to use them inside Russia's territory.
The U.S. House of Representatives, with broad bipartisan support, passed a $95 billion legislative package providing security assistance to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. Aid for Ukraine had been held up for months, because of the opposition of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, who urged Republican lawmakers to block it.
Almost 26 months since the 2022 invasion, Russia is slowly advancing in eastern Ukraine and has ramped up its bombardments of cities and towns behind the front lines amid a slowdown in Western military assistance.
The legislation now proceeds to the Democratic-majority Senate, which passed a similar measure more than two months ago. U.S. leaders, from Democratic President Joe Biden to top Senate Republican Mitch McConnell, had been urging Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson to bring it up for a vote.
The Senate is set to begin considering the bill on Tuesday, with some preliminary votes that afternoon. Final passage is expected sometime next week, which would clear the way for Biden to sign it into law.