Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) predicted on Thursday that President Joe Biden’s administration would “eventually come around” on providing ATACMS and F-16 fighter aircraft to Ukraine.
Blumenthal, who has advocated getting Ukraine the missile system and fighter jets all year, made the comments while speaking to reporters after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited the Capitol. The Biden administration agreed to join the F-16 coalition in late August. The deal allows the Netherlands and Denmark to provide Ukraine with fourth-generation jets and allows the U.S. Department of Defense to train its pilots.
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U.S. officials have long worried that providing Ukraine with air support would escalate tensions with Russia. Military leaders have also questioned if the time spent learning to operate such complex jets would be too time-consuming and difficult.
When asked what Congress could do to force Biden’s hand in getting Ukraine access to U.S. fighter jets, Blumenthal replied: “I think the administration will eventually come around.”
Blumenthal, who serves on the Senate Armed Services Committee, pointed to the lobbying efforts required to get the Biden administration on board with approving other weapons systems for the Ukraine conflict.
“You could argue that the [MIM-104] Patriot missile defense was too late. The Bradley and Stryker vehicles were too late. The Abrams tanks which await [and] the F-16s are too late. They were later than they should have been, but they’re not too late,” he said. “The same is true of ATACMS. There’s no strategic or tactical reason for the administration to be sitting on those ATACMS. I know that they say we need them for our own military readiness, but where are they going to use them? So, I feel strongly that it won’t be too late if they do the right thing.”
When pressed if the president needed more convincing than Congress, Blumenthal replied, “I think so. I mean, I haven’t heard anyone say here that they should not get ATACMS. I’ve heard some of our military leaders say that we can’t provide them because we don’t have enough for ourselves, so we should produce more, like we should produce more 155 [mm howitzer] munitions.”
“I think, eventually, it is my personal view that we will provide them because the pressure is mounting,” Blumenthal said, responding to a comment about F-16s.
The Senate Democrat was not the only Ukraine ally focused on increased military assistance after Zelensky’s Thursday visit.
House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-TX), a staunch Ukraine supporter, told reporters that Zelensky said he needs “two things in particular: air cover, or the F-16s, and the attackers need longer-range artillery to hit Crimea, where the Iranian drones are coming out of. He doesn’t have that. Right now, his troops are going in with no air cover.”
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“They have to take the mines by hand at nighttime,” he continued. “We wouldn’t send our troops into that situation. So, we need to give them everything they need. If this administration won’t give it to them, then I submitted that we write in our appropriations.”
“They need it, and they’re gonna get it,” McCaul said of Biden’s new $24 billion aid request. “The majority of the majority support this. I know there’s some dissension on both sides, but a war of attrition is not going to win this.”
