Lawmakers Urge More Aid to Help Ukrainian Military

WASHINGTON — Russian and Ukrainian negotiators met again Monday but came away with no binding agreements as their war entered its 12th day.

After their meeting ended, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee met to determine the next steps for U.S. policy toward Ukraine.

Proposals the committee is considering would send more tanks and military aircraft to Poland, then perhaps across the border for delivery to the Ukrainian army.

Lawmakers also want to increase the number of Ukrainians who would be given refugee status in the U.S.

Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, called on the Biden administration to facilitate a proposed transfer of fighter aircraft from western European allies to the government of Ukraine.

Menendez’s suggestion follows a plea on Saturday from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to U.S. lawmakers asking for more military support.

“It is vital to the security of Europe and the U.S. that Ukrainians have every possible means of military assistance that we collectively can provide,” Menendez wrote in a letter Monday to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.

“I understand this is not an easy decision for these countries to make,” the letter says. “Asking them to provide their own aircraft, especially as Russia’s military aggression edges closer to their own borders, would be unthinkable except in the direst circumstances. Unfortunately, that is the situation the world faces. Extraordinary times require extraordinary measures and sacrifices.”

Under one part of the proposal, the U.S. government would replace any European jets donated to Ukraine with upgraded American aircraft. The deal would include concessionary financing, loans and subsidized pricing.

“The U.S. and our [North Atlantic Treaty Organization] allies should do everything we can to compensate countries that heed Ukraine’s desperate call for fighter jets to defend their homeland,” Menendez wrote.

Republicans on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee saw the Russian invasion as part of a bigger scheme to expand Russian President Vladimir Putin’s power throughout Europe.

“Vladimir Putin is a brutal dictator and thug who seeks to intimidate and bully members of the NATO alliance, the European Union and all members of the international community that respect the rules-based democratic international system we built after World War II,” said a letter to President Joe Biden authored by Sen. Jim Risch, R-Idaho. It was joined by other Republicans and a few Democrats.

It urged the Biden administration to accelerate the sale of M1A2 SEPV3 tanks and advanced armor packages to Poland and other NATO countries if the Russians demonstrate aggression toward them.

“Dramatically strengthening Poland’s ground forces will also strengthen NATO’s collective defensive capabilities and serve as a powerful deterrent against the Russian Federation launching additional military incursions in Europe beyond Ukraine,” the letter says.

Delivery of more military equipment to Poland is one of three leading ideas for a more forceful U.S. response to the war in Ukraine. Lawmakers and the Biden administration also are considering a ban on Russian oil imports and a declaration of war crimes against Russia.

State Department officials are saying Russia’s much bigger military is likely to overcome Ukrainian resistance soon without foreign assistance.

They say they already are seeing signs the worst is yet to come as Putin becomes frustrated over his lack of a quick victory.

As Russian bombardments continue, the United Nations estimates as many as four million Ukrainians are fleeing to neighboring countries, mostly Poland and Hungary.

The Biden administration is offering to extend the visas for the estimated 30,000 Ukrainians already in the U.S. They are being given Temporary Protected Status, which means they would not be deported for up to three years.

Biden also is considering offering refugee status to an undetermined larger number of Ukrainians leaving their country. Most of them are women and children, as the men stay behind to join the war effort.

Tom can be reached at [email protected]