Boehner, senior members press Obama on arms to Ukraine

Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and a bipartisan group of senior lawmakers are stepping up the pressure on President Obama to provide weapons to Ukraine’s military to fend off Russian-backed separatists.

“In the wake of a cease-fire agreement that appears only to have consolidated Russian and separatist gains since the first Minsk agreement, we urge you to quickly approve additional efforts to support Ukraine’s efforts to defend its sovereign territory, including through the transfer of lethal, defensive weapons systems to the Ukrainian military,” the group, made up of eight Republicans and three Democrats, wrote in a letter dated Wednesday to Obama.

{mosads}Besides Boehner, signatories include House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and the Republican and Democratic leaders of the House Armed Services, Foreign Affairs, Intelligence and Appropriations committees.

The missive was also signed by the chairmen of the Appropriations Defense and Foreign Operations subpanels.

The document notes that it has been roughly one year since unrest began in the former Soviet satellite state and that Kiev has “long-standing requests” for military assistance from the administration.

“We urge you to lead Europe in challenging this assault on international order, lest our foreign policy be held hostage by the lowest common denominator of European consensus,” lawmakers wrote. “In the face of Russian aggression, the lack of clarity on our overall strategy thus far has done little to reassure our friends and allies in the region who, understandably, feel vulnerable. This needs to change.”

Both the House and Senate last year approved a bill that would give the president the authority to provide defensive and “lethal” military support to Ukraine, but Obama has not sent any out of concern it would further provoke Moscow.

The U.S. has provided around $100 million in nonlethal assistance to Kiev.

On Wednesday, Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Victoria Nuland told the House Foreign Affairs Committee that Russia’s support of rebels in eastern Ukraine amounted to an invasion.

“We have used that word in the past, yes,” she said, adding that providing arms to Kiev is “still under discussion.”

On Tuesday, Joint Chief of Staff Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey said the U.S. should consider providing weapons to Ukraine.

“I think we should absolutely consider lethal aid and it ought to be in the context of NATO allies because [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s ultimate objective is to fracture NATO,” he told the Senate Armed Services Committee.