House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-Texas) slammed the Biden administration for its “slow-walk” on sending aid to Ukraine, adding that the move is dragging out the conflict, which is “precisely what Putin wants.”
During an interview on ABC’s “This Week,” McCaul told host Martha Raddatz that it is “unfortunate” that Biden is not sending F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine immediately.
“If they don’t get the momentum right now with the Russian offensive coming into the country right now, they have a window of time with the counter-offensive,” he said. “That’s why it’s important.”
“When we slow-walk and slow-pace this thing, it drags it out. And that’s precisely what Putin wants,” he added.
McCaul led his own delegation to Kyiv just one day after Biden’s visit this week. McCaul noted that a lot of the high-ranking military officials he met with during his visit were in favor of the U.S. putting “not only F-16s in but longer-range artillery to take out the Iranian drones in Crimea.”
McCaul also said he talked to Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Mark Milley regarding the MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) and the F-16s, which he said is not “off the table.”
“I think with enough pressure from Congress on both sides of the aisle, we can get into Ukraine what they really need to win this fight,” McCaul said. “Otherwise, what are we doing in Ukraine?”
McCaul’s calls for more aid to Ukraine echo last weeks sentiment, when he said he’s hopeful the U.S. will send more missiles and move to supply fighter jets to Kyiv.
“The longer they wait, the longer this conflict will prevail,” McCaul said last week during an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union” at the Munich Security Conference in Germany.