‘Arm Ukraine To Victory,’ US Republican Senator Says, As Trump Vows More Weapons
US Senator Jerry Moran (R-KS) on Wednesday urged the Trump administration to follow through its commitments to ensure that “Ukraine has the equipment necessary to win a just and lasting peace,” as he put it.
“I was pleased to see President Trump say that his administration will resume sending weapons to Ukraine. It is my understanding that they signed an order to do so,” Sen. Moran, the Republican chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, said in remarks on Senate floor.
He added that Trump “was going to do that using the resources and flexibilities that Congress has provided to him, to his administration.”
Trump at the White House on Wednesday signaled a willingness to send more weapons to Ukraine, including more missiles, without offering further details.
For Senator Moran, “this commitment is vital, ensuring that Ukraine has capabilities to meet the needs to protect its people and its territory against ongoing aggression.”
The lawmaker went on to make the case that America’s security is closely linked to the stability of the free world.
“If Ukraine fails to repel Russia’s invasion, the consequences will extend far beyond Eastern Europe, threatening the safety, economic strength, and global leadership of the United States of America,” he said. “If we allow a dictator to redraw borders by force, then what message does that send to other authoritarian regimes watching closely around the globe—including China? This is a message of weakness that invites further aggression, and it threatens our allies and partners around the globe.”
The senator also emphasized that the cost of US inaction will far outweigh the cost of action. If Putin is not stopped in Ukraine, he said, “the likelihood of a direct confrontation between Russia and a NATO ally dramatically increases, and that would mean far greater costs—not just in resources but potentially in American lives.”
Moran was the latest Republican praising Trump for resuming weapons deliveries to Ukraine after the Pentagon abruptly announced it would temporarily withhold shipments of defensive aid, due to concerns over diminishing US stockpiles.
On Tuesday, another key Republican senator, former party leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), also called for the US president to be more resolute in backing Ukraine: “This time, the President will need to reject calls from the isolationists and restrainers within his Administration to limit these deliveries to defensive weapons,” he said.
Both Senators Moran and McConnell believe that while Trump has tried to negotiate a peace agreement, Putin has indicated, in almost no uncertain fashion, lack of interest.
“The Ukrainian people have demonstrated incredible courage and resilience. They are fighting for their freedom and, by extension, for the principles that underpin global peace and security,” Sen Moran said. “Our response to what we are seeing in Ukraine and across the globe should be to build more capacity and ensure that we have a resilient industrial base, with an ability to handle all the possible threats that the US faces now and into the future.”
He reminded his colleagues that 90 percent of the aid the US will provide to Ukraine “also goes back directly into the American economy, expanding capacity and resources for our own defense industrial base and creating jobs right here at home.”
“By aiding Ukraine, we are replenishing our own stockpiles with new, more advanced equipment and demonstrating American leadership on the global stage,” he said. “The United States must continue our resolute support for Ukraine, showing our adversaries that we are a reliable partner and that attacks on democracy will not go unanswered.”
Source: Alex Raufoglu