Amid simmering tensions, a bipartisan group of US Senators visited Kyiv and promised the US would provide Ukraine with more weapons if Russia invades the country.
After the delegation met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Sen. Richard Blumenthal said if Russia invades the US will “impose crippling economic sanctions, but more importantly, we will give the people of Ukraine the arms, lethal arms they need to defend their lives and livelihoods.”
Russia strongly denies that it is plotting an invasion, but the US won’t let the narrative die. Last week, Blumenthal joined 25 other Senate Democrats in introducing a bill that would sanction Russia and give more arms to Ukraine if the president determines Russia is being hostile towards its neighbor.
The Senate bill would authorize an additional $500 million in military aid for Ukraine on top of the $300 million authorized by the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act. Since the 2014 US-backed coup in Kyiv, the US has provided Ukraine with about $2.5 billion in military aid.
In Kyiv, Blumenthal said the US could give Ukraine more anti-tank Javelin missiles, as well as stinger missiles, small arms, and boats. The other Senators that joined Blumenthal in Ukraine were Rob Portman (R-OH), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Chris Murphy (D-CT), Kevin Cramer (R-ND), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), and Roger Wicker (R-MS).
Russia is not happy about the push to arm Ukraine, and it’s not just the US supplying weapons. The UK announced that it began providing Ukraine with anti-tank weapons. “We have taken the decision to supply Ukraine with light anti-armor defensive weapon systems,” British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace told Parliament, adding that the first delivery was made Monday.
The stupid part is that Javelins and Stingers aren’t going to change the military balance of power. So these Senators are just dribbling away the US taxpayer’s money – as usual – as are the Brits.
Agreed.
Afghan army had far more than that and folded instantly.
ISIS also had NATO gear with a large irregular army and Russia effortlessly destroyed them with a handful of troops and planes.
The amount of troops and gear near Ukraine is enough to take Kiev in days no matter what US or UK do.
Richard my friend, don’t the Senators get paid to dribble?…
Roll over em’ Russia!
The Ruskies are struggling, care to join them?
Forgive my crudity but doesn’t it often seem like the US/NATO are farting into the wind?…
It warms my heart to see the Reps. and Dems. on the same war page together…
Glorious!
Of course, if American weapons were the answer, Afghanistan would be a regional superpower.
So, accepting Ukraine into NATO, arming it to the teeth, planting missiles at Russia’s border is not hostile???
When I saw the headlines, I wondered how some senators can “promise” more weapons. I guess you don’t have to worry about the other side of the political aisle objecting since weapons sales and Russian hatred is prevalent amongst both sides. And Biden certainly won’t veto any bill that gives Ukraine more weapons. So silly me for wondering such. And wasn’t Murphy(D) kind of antiwar when an (R) was in office?
2.5 Billion dollars to Ukraine, wow! It might be cheaper, indeed more practical, if we just adopt Ukraine. We should be able to buy the country for that kind of money… And carpet it…
We already bought the country.
… and are suffering severe buyer’s remorse. That is … except for the arms manufacturers.
The “successful” Neocon coup was actually a win for Russia! They got the Crimea back and saddled the US with a corrupt and bankrupt albatross, and Europe with a thoroughly unwanted threat of war.
Now the dying Empire is desperate for a war — any war — to distract from its terminal decline, unite the American people against a foreign enemy, and prove (to itself) that it is still the “indispensable” nation. Not!!
Neither the Russians nor the Chinese will fall for this desperate nonsense. They see the domestic political, cultural, and economic war that is tearing the US apart, amplified by the pandemic catastrophe, and they will follow Napoleons advice — obvious advice — not to interfere with an adversary that is busily engaged in destroying itself.
Whenever the MIC sniffs war in the winds, there is a collective orgasm.