A day after many of them spoke with Ukraine’s president, U.S. lawmakers are pledging to provide additional military aid to Kyiv as the government there continues to fight for its survival amid the invasion by Russia.
Congress will soon approve emergency funding, putting “$10 billion into both defensive equipment for Ukraine, but also humanitarian assistance to get civilians out,” said Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut, on “Fox News Sunday.”
Despite generally bipartisan and robust support for Kyiv, members of the U.S. Congress are drawing the line at another Ukrainian request: a no-fly zone for the country’s airspace to deter Russian aerial attacks.
That would mean “World War III,” Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida told ABC’s “This Week” program Sunday. “I think there are a lot of things we can do to help Ukraine protect itself… but I think people need to understand what a no-fly zone means.”
Another senator, Joe Manchin of West Virginia, a Democrat, expressed a less strict stance.
“I would take nothing off the table,” he said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
Murphy, a Democrat, commented on Fox News: “If I were President Zelenskyy, I would be asking for a no-fly zone. The problem is, there is no such thing as a no-fly zone over Ukraine.”
U.S. President Joe Biden is in regular contact with his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, about Ukraine’s request for more fighter jets, according to Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
“Yes, we’re talking very actively about this, looking at what we could do to backfill Poland, if it chooses to send the MiGs and the SU planes that it has to Ukraine, how we can help by backfilling what they’re giving to the Ukrainians,” Blinken, in Moldova, told “Meet the Press.” (AFP/VOA)
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