Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met with a bunch of members of the GOP House in Kiev to ask for more military aid amid the growing reluctance of the Republican Party to proceed supplying weapons.
Indeed, some opponents of greater support for the war have suggested that the Ukrainian leader “threatened” america to supply more aid for the war.
Zelensky sat down with House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Michael McCaul (R-Texas) and 4 other GOP members within the Ukrainian capital and said he would send a wish list of weapons he believes could help end the war with Russia, including the F-fighter 16 long-range ATACMS jet and guided missiles.
McCaul said the Biden administration and the National Security Council are still arguing “how quickly and what weapons” handy over to Ukraine.
“But I see increasingly more momentum towards the introduction of artillery and aircraft” McCaul told reporters in Kiev. “Anyway, we will start training pilots now to make them ready.”
The visit by a congressional delegation got here a day after President Joe Biden pledged $500 million in latest aid during a surprise visit to Kiev on Monday, although Biden said in a recent interview that Ukraine doesn’t need the F-16 “for now.”
“He needs tanks,” the president said. – Needs artillery. Needs air defenses, including yet another [High Mobility Artillery Rocket System]. There are things he needs now as we ship him out so he can turn a profit this spring and this summer turning into fall.
“I do not need the F-16 right away,” Biden added. “In keeping with our military, there may be currently no basis on which to justify supplying the F-16.”
Meanwhile, Americans are increasingly divided over how much support america should offer Ukraine, recent polls suggest.
AND latest Fox News poll showed that fifty% imagine the US should proceed to support Ukraine until it wins a war with Russia, and 46% imagine support needs to be time-limited.
Those numbers have gone down since last month when one other Fox News poll found that 63% of those polled supported ongoing aid.
Zelensky warned america during a press conference on Friday about the results of withdrawing military support, in response to a reporter’s query concerning the growing variety of Americans who imagine the US is providing an excessive amount of military aid.
“I can tell them one thing: in the event that they don’t change their minds, in the event that they don’t understand us, in the event that they don’t support Ukraine, they may lose NATO, they may lose the influence of america, they may lose the leadership “the position they enjoy on the earth,” Zelensky said.
Some conservative commentators used social media to slap Zelensky for his warning, which they called a “threat” with a purpose to get more help.
Amongst Republican Party members calling for a curtailment of aid flows to Ukraine is Congressman Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, who called Biden’s recent trip to Kiev “offensive” and proof that he “selected Ukraine over America.”
Amid growing resentment inside his party, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Kentucky Republic) made a fiery appeal Friday to US and Western allies to renew support for Ukraine and against Russian “banditry” in Helsinki.
“If Putin got the green light to destabilize Europe by invading and killing at will, the long-term cost to america, by way of each dollars and security threats, can be astronomically higher than the tiny fraction of our GDP now we have invested in Ukraine. to this point,” McConnell said in an announcement.
With Postal Wires