The administration of President Joe Biden has unveiled a new sponsorship program for Ukraine refugees that will make it easier for them to be resettled in the United States as Russia's war in their home country continues.

In a statement on Thursday, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) noted that the new "streamlined process" will let Ukrainians apply for humanitarian parole.

Al Jazeera reported that a humanitarian parole status does not provide a way to residency or citizenship. However, it allows people to stay and work in the U.S. for two years.

To be eligible in the program dubbed "Uniting for Ukraine, Ukrainian refugees must have been resident in Ukraine as of February 11, have a sponsor in the United States, and complete COVID-19 vaccinations.

The DHS said they must also pass security checks. The program, which will be formally launched on Monday, came after Joe Biden said last month that the U.S. would take in up to 100,000 Ukrainians fleeing the war.

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The United States on Russia-Ukraine War

Aside from the new sponsorship program, the United States will also send a new $800 million weapons package to Ukraine and $500 million in direct financial support as Ukrainians try to fight off Russian attacks in the country's eastern and southern parts.

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman said Western sanctions have been helpful in preventing Russia from deepening its invasion of Ukraine, CNBC News reported.

Sherman noted that they have all tried to make sure that whatever they do hurts Russia's president Vladimir Putin. She said they were aiming for a strategic failure for Putin and the Kremlin, adding that they believe it was "already happening."

So far, the deputy secretary of state noted that the U.S. and its allies had imposed sanctions on more than half of Russia's high-tech imports and more than 80 percent of assets in the Russian banking sector.

The Russia-Ukraine War

Vladimir Putin has claimed "success" in Mariupol but ordered Russian forces not to storm the site where the last line of Ukrainian resistance is holding out.

According to NBC News, Ukrainian officials said an apparent mass grave in a village outside the city might have as many as 9,000 bodies.

Mariupol Mayor Vadym Boychenko noted that the "biggest war crime of the 21st century" was done in Mariupol.

Boychenko said the place was the new Babi Yar, where Hitler killed Jews, Roma, and Slavs. He noted that the Russian leader is now destroying Ukrainians.

Officials in Kyiv have been looking for ways to evacuate the soldiers and thousands of civilians still trapped in the city without much food or aid.

On Thursday, Vice President Kamala Harris said Russia's attack on Ukraine will "prove to be a strategic failure for Russia."

Harris' statement came the same day Russia's foreign ministry announced measures to ban her and some other U.S. officials from traveling to Russia. Joe Biden was already prohibited from entering Russia since last month.

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This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Mary Webber

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