Senators John Cornyn (R-TX) and Ted Cruz (R-TX) condemned the Biden administration’s response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The senators’ comments came during a news conference held after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addressed Congress on Wednesday.
“What is so frustrating is that this was entirely preventable,” said Cruz. “This war didn’t have to happen — the most significant war in Europe since 1945, since the end of World War II. There were two specific mistakes made by the White House that caused this war.”
Cruz claimed that the bungled withdrawal of troops out of Afghanistan “emboldened America’s enemies.” He also blamed the suspension of sanctions on the Nord Pipeline 2 project between Russia and Germany.
Immediately following Biden’s inauguration, he removed the sanctions on the Russian-backed pipeline. Cruz, in turn, blocked the speedy confirmation of many of the President’s State Department appointees.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) agreed to hold a vote on reimposing the sanctions if Cruz agreed to release his block of certain nominations. The vote failed to pass the Senate after most Democrats opposed it, though Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy pushed senators to endorse it.
“Two weeks ago, when every member of Congress was on the video conference call with President Zelenskyy, he told all of us that if the United States had sanctioned Nord Stream 2 last year, Putin would not have invaded,” Cruz said. “It was the White House’s political decision to waive those sanctions that caused this invasion.”
“The Biden administration’s timidity in the face of this evil needs to end, and end today,” said Cornyn. Cruz and Cornyn both urged the U.S. to increase support for Ukraine after hearing Zelenskyy’s proposals earlier in the day.
During the televised conference with Congress, Zelenskyy invoked America’s darkest days, comparing Russia’s assault on Ukraine to Pearl Harbor and 9/11.
“Right now, at this moment, every night, for three weeks now, there are various Ukrainian cities [where] Russia has turned the Ukrainian sky into a source of death for thousands of people,” Zelenskyy said.
Along with the speech, Zelenskyy shared a disturbing video showing life in Ukraine before and after the Russian invasion.
The Ukrainian president restated his belief in the need for a “no-fly zone” in Ukraine to prevent Russian aviation strikes.
“If this is too much to ask, we offer an alternative,” he said. “You know what kind of defense systems we need.”
Zelenskyy specifically requested surface-to-air missiles and aircraft.
“You know how much depends on the battlefield, on the ability to use aircraft — powerful, strong aviation to protect our people, our freedom, our land,” said Zelenskyy.
His request for aircraft comes as the White House is under fire for rejecting a Polish offer to send several dozen of their MiG-29s to Ukraine in exchange for the U.S. replacing them with F-16s.
“We should not dictate from Washington, D.C. what sort of weapons they can get access to,” said Cornyn. “Where does the Biden administration get off saying, ‘Well, we’ll give you this but not that,’ when people are trying to defend their very lives and their national sovereignty against a megalomaniac dictator like Vladimir Putin?
We should let them make the decision and provide them everything they need in order to defend themselves and their country and defeat Vladimir Putin,” added Cornyn. The White House and Pentagon blocked the transfer of MiGs from Poland, a member of NATO, to Ukraine because of concerns that Putin would view the move as a major escalation and could use it as a pretext to declare that a state of war exists between Russia and the NATO alliance. Cruz offered two suggestions. First, that the U.S. provides fighter planes as part of its assistance, but only for Ukrainian pilots to fly. Second, Cruz said the U.S. needed to “take away Putin’s revenue from oil and gas.” “Vladimir Putin is a petro tyrant. This war is being funded by his sales of oil and gas,” said Cruz. Cruz called on Biden to “unleash American production” and urged European allies to “sign long-term contracts” with American or allied oil and gas producers. “The Biden team is resigned to failure, to Putin’s winning,” said Cruz. “Putin can be defeated, but only if we stand with our Ukrainian allies, we provide them with the weapons they need to defend themselves, and we take away Putin’s revenue from oil and gas. That is the path to victory.” However, Cruz and many other politicians do not support Zelenskyy’s request for “no-fly zones.” “We should not put American servicemen and women in harm’s way. We should not put boots on the ground. It’s the reason I oppose a no-fly zone,” said Cruz during an interview on Fox News on Tuesday. “I understand why [Zelenskyy] wants that. And there’s been some Democrats, some Republicans that have foolishly echoed that call,” said Cruz. “But a no-fly zone would be a mistake because that has American pilots and American fighter jets engaged in direct conflict with Russian pilots and Russian fighter jets. And that’s an invitation to escalation, an invitation to World War III. We don’t want to see that” In contrast, Rep. Colin Allred (D-TX-32) lauded the White House’s response.
 “A murderous dictator has launched an unprovoked and unjustified attack on a sovereign democratic neighbor and in the process killed hundreds of civilians – including pregnant women and children,” said Allred. “This is a tragedy and has been met with a global response led by President Biden.”
Zelenskyy also requested that sanctions against Russia continue to be ramped up “every week until the Russian military machine stops.”
According to Allred, the White House and Congress will help Ukraine by continuing to impose sanctions.
“The U.S. Congress, working hand in hand with the Biden Administration, will ensure that we do all we can to get the Ukrainians everything they need to defend themselves, alleviate the humanitarian suffering, punish Putin with sanctions, and continue working with our allies to find a diplomatic solution,” said Allred.
