Three Texas congressmen visited Ukraine this week amid a growing push to send fighter jets to the war-torn country.
On February 21, a congressional delegation traveled to Kyiv, Ukraine, to meet President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and express support for his country’s ongoing war against Russia. The group included two congressmen from North Texas, U.S. Reps. Keith Self (R-TX) and Jake Ellzey (R-TX). The pair were also accompanied by the House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman, fellow Texas congressman Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX).
McCaul highlighted America’s bipartisan backing of the Ukrainian military as it continues to resist Russia’s invasion.
“Of course, our Congress on both sides of the aisle. Very supportive of your efforts, and everything we can do to support you,” McCaul told the Ukrainian president, according to WFAA.
The congressional visit came just one day after U.S. President Joe Biden visited Ukraine’s capital to meet with Zelenskyy.
“One year later, Kyiv stands,” Biden said during his visit, according to AP News. “And Ukraine stands. Democracy stands. The Americans stand with you, and the world stands with you.”
Biden took the opportunity while in Kyiv to announce a further $500 million in defense aid to Ukraine.
Both visits come amid a growing chorus of Republican lawmakers urging Washington to supply more advanced weaponry to Ukraine.
While Biden has approved sending battle tanks to the frontline, some Republican lawmakers — including McCaul, Rep. Mike Turner (R-OH), Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), and Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), as The Dallas Express recently reported — hope the Biden administration will ultimately deliver fighter jets.
They argue that American F-16s could be the deciding factor in helping Ukraine stave off a looming Russian counter-offensive, according to The Hill.
Asserting that Biden’s hesitation to send warplanes is a mistake, Cornyn told the Daily Mail, “We ought to be supplying the Ukrainians with anything they can effectively use to defeat the Russian invasion. The administration has been a little slow to provide them what they need.”
Likewise, on CNN’s “State of the Union,” McCaul stressed, “The longer they wait, the longer this conflict will prevail,” referring to the desired weapons shipments to Eastern Europe.
Speaking at the recent Munich Security Conference, according to CNN, McCaul also said that Putin “wants this to be a long, protracted war because he knows that potentially, he will lose.” But he also said that Biden’s hesitation to provide more fighting power capable of ending the war could lead to waning support for Ukraine in the U.S., noting “we could lose the will of the American people and therefore the Congress.”
Indeed, as The Dallas Express recently reported, less than half (48%) of American adults currently support providing weapons to Ukraine, according to a poll conducted by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. This is a drop from 60% in May of last year.
Not all of the Republican Party is on board with sending Ukraine further aid either. Among the dissenters, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) has been particularly vocal in his opposition. Along with 10 other House Republicans, he proposed a “Ukraine Fatigue” resolution this month, AP reported.
“America is in a state of managed decline, and it will exacerbate if we continue to hemorrhage taxpayer dollars toward a foreign war,” Gaetz said, according to AP News.
Nonetheless, according to Sen. Graham, U.S. attendees of the Munich Security Conference were “virtually unanimous” that Washington should train Ukrainian pilots and deliver F-16s for the war effort.
“I believe a decision will be imminent … the administration will start training Ukrainian pilots on the F-16. They need the weapons system,” he said, per CNN.
According to McCaul, delivering these weapons to Ukraine is critical.
“We need to throw everything we can into this fight so that they can win,” he stressed, per The Hill.