Graham: Biden administration decision to withhold F-16s from Ukraine ‘beyond disappointing’

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) on Monday called the Biden administration’s decision to withhold F-16 fighter jets from Ukraine “beyond disappointing.”

“President Biden’s recent statement ruling out F-16 fighters for Ukraine in the short term, based on advice from the Department of Defense, is beyond disappointing,” Graham said in a statement. “It has been like pulling teeth with this Administration to get every weapons system requested by Ukraine to the battlefield.”

Biden told ABC News’s David Muir in an interview on Friday that he was ruling out F-16s for the time being, saying that Ukraine “doesn’t need F-16s now.”

Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, has repeatedly defended the president’s decision in recent days, noting that the fighter jets are “not the key capability” that Kyiv needs for its upcoming counteroffensive.

“F-16s are a question for a later time. And that’s why President Biden said that, for now, he’s not moving forward with those,” Sullivan said on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday. “So, as far as we’re concerned, the U.S. effort has got to be to get Ukraine the tools it needs for the mission at hand.”

As the war in Ukraine surpassed the one-year mark on Friday, Biden is facing mounting pressure from both Ukrainian officials and U.S. lawmakers to acquiesce to the request for fighter jets. 

While attending the Munich Security Conference earlier this month, Graham said there was a “virtually unanimous belief” among the 30 senators at the conference that “we should be training Ukrainian pilots on the F-16 today so they can get the jets as soon as possible.”

“There is massive bipartisan support to provide Ukraine the fighter jets and start training them right now,” Graham reiterated in Monday’s statement.

“Ultimately, the responsibility of this decision falls on President Biden,” Graham added. “He has the power to provide the jets and he chose not to do the right thing. Denying one of the top requests of the Ukrainian military, F-16s and other NATO fighter aircraft, will only prolong the war and lead to even more death and destruction.”

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-Texas), who has also been a key proponent of providing Kyiv with F-16s, similarly expressed frustration with the Biden administration on Sunday.

“When we slow-walk and slow-pace this thing, it drags it out. And that’s precisely what Putin wants,” McCaul said.