not the last aid package for ukraine has been overwhelmingly approved by the u.s. congress. a rare and notable achievement given the deep political divisions between democrat and republican lawmakers. on thursday, the $40 billion aid package for both military and humanitarian assistance passed the senate, but not without opposition. 11 republicans voted against the bill in defiance of republican mitch mcconnell. anyone concerned about the cost of supporting a ukrainian victory should consider the much larger cost should ukraine lose. president biden is now heading to south korea and is expected to sign the bill into law once he arrives. but wait there s more. just as the senate approved that $40 billion, the biden administration announced another security package worth $100 million and the flood of money to ukraine comes at a critical moment. ukraine s top military commander claims his troops have broken the russian siege s at kharkiv and miykolaiv and says ukrainia for
heading to south korea. his first trip to asia as president while pyongyang watches closely. and the taliban continues to roll back the rights of women in afghanistan. now forcing a choice between covering their faces or losing their on-air jobs. live from cnn center, this is cnn newsroom with john vause. a bill authorizing $40 billion in u.s. aid to ukraine is on its way to seoul, south korea, for president joe biden s signature. the aid package easily passed the u.s. senate on thursday but does not take effect until it is signed. another $100 million worth of artillery, radar and other e equipment headed to ukraine. and more than 1,000 cars have been blocked at a russian checkpoint for four days. the convoy is trying to reach ukrainian-held territory. with reports many making that journey are running low on food and water. in mariupol, more than 1,700 ukrainian troops have surrendered at the steel factory. cnn cannot verify that report, but an unknown number of sold
u.s. president, joe biden, is on his way to south korea on his first asia trip as president. he will also be visiting japan and meet with leaders of india and australia as well. the asia trip comes later in biden s presidency than he may have liked. he wants to affirm the importance of our indo-pacific alliances. kevin, we ll begin with you. joe biden has been focusing much on the war in ukraine. this an attempt that they can walk and talk and chew gum at the same time. it s meant to reaffirm the u.s. commitment to the key alliance in east asia with south korea and japan and demonstrate that president biden still has this focus on asia despite all of the time and attention he s been spending on the war in ukraine. you saw that play out in the near term when the president in the morning he met with the leaders in finland and sweden. they are trying to join nato and he pivoted and turned to asia. te took flight and still on it now on his way to asia an it s really sort of dem
live from atlanta, this is cnn newsroom with kim brunhuber. u.s. president joe biden is expected to land in south korea next hour to begin his very first asia trip as president. he ll spen most of the weekend in the country holding talks with the new south korean president before heading to japan, where he ll be meeting with japan s prime minister as well as indian and australian leaders. officials say the trip to asia comes later in his presidency than he might have liked, but biden plans to, in his words, quote, affirm the importance of our indo-pacific alliances. cnn s kivevin liptak is live fr seoul. it s taken a while for him to make his first trip in his presidency. he is certainly coming over later than his recent predecessor, and probably a little later than he would have liked to. president biden has tried to make asia a center of his foreign policy, just like president obama did. just like president trump did. but he has been stymied somewhat by these other
war on ukraine. but other tensions are ratcheting higher, and closer across the border north korea may be preparing to fuel an intercontinental ballistic missile that would mean kim jong-un s regime could conduct a test launch while president biden is in south korea. meantime in ukraine, russia has replaced senior military commanders who are blamed for bungling the early stages of the invasion. that s according to british intelligence. and ukrainian president zelenskyy says russia s relentless shelling of the donbas region has left it destroyed. his words, it is hell there. cnn s melissa bell is in kyiv. first to journey diamond in seoul. what s the message president biden is delivering to that region? well, listen, president biden has arrived in the region with the goal of shoring up the u.s. s key alliances in the region, not only on a national security front, but also in terms of increasing economic cooperation in this region. but we begin with this increased threat in n