Several U.S. Senators reportedly walked out of a meeting over funding for Ukraine on Tuesday. Shortly after, Ukrainian President Zelensky was scheduled to address Congress but backed out.
Utah’s Mitt Romney was one of the walkers and he said that “a number” of his Republican colleagues followed suit.
Do Republicans suddenly realize that sending aid to Ukraine is unethical because it means that Ukrainian men die to reclaim land that Ukraine has been torturing for a decade? No, it has nothing to do with that. It has to do with the fact that the budget for Ukraine leaves nothing for border security.
Senator Romney told reporters: “There’s nothing new in what they’re describing, and Republicans are saying that there’s support for Ukraine, but there has to be security of our border.”
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin warned Congress that if the U.S. does not send more aid to Ukraine, it is “very likely” that the Pentagon will have to send troops to Europe. Speaking about that meeting, House Foreign Affairs Chairman Michael McCaul told The Messenger: “If Putin takes over Ukraine, he’ll get Moldova, Georgia, then maybe the Baltics.”
This is false fear mongering. Putin did not single handedly decide to take over Ukraine. Russian Parliament voted on the Special Military Operation in March of 2022 at the request of from the leaders of the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics (DPR and LPR) for assistance in repelling Ukrainian aggression since 2014. Neither Russia nor Putin have ever expressed interest in gaining territory beyond that region.
