Senator Lindsay Graham, RS.C., said Monday that she was “beyond disappointment” over the Biden administration’s decision to withhold F-16 fighter jets from Ukraine.
“President Biden’s recent statement ruling out the short-term deployment of F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine, based on advice from the Department of Defense, is beyond disappointing,” Graham said in a statement. “It was like brushing teeth with this regime to put all the weapons systems requested by Ukraine into the battlefield.”
Biden told ABC News’ David Muir in an interview on Friday that Ukraine is ruling out the F-16 for the time being, saying “we don’t need the F-16 right now.”
Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, has repeatedly defended the president’s decision in recent days, pointing out that fighter jets are “not a critical capability” that Kiev needs to fight back.
“The F-16s are a work in progress,” Sullivan said Sunday in CNN’s “State of the Union” address, which is why President Biden said they are not going ahead with them right now. “So as far as we are concerned, the U.S. effort must be to provide Ukraine with the tools it needs for the task at hand.”
With the war in Ukraine surpassing a year on Friday, Biden faces mounting pressure from both Ukrainian officials and US lawmakers to acquiesce to the fighter jet’s demands.
While attending the Munich Security Conference earlier this month, Graham said there was “virtually unanimous conviction” among the 30 senators at the conference. Possible. “
“There is massive bipartisan support to provide Ukraine with fighter jets and begin training now,” Graham reiterated in a statement Monday.
“Ultimately, the responsibility for this decision rests with President Biden,” Graham added. “He has the power to provide jets, and he chose not to do the right thing. Denying one of the greatest demands of the Ukrainian army, F-16s, and other NATO fighter planes would be a war. It will only prolong the process and lead to even more death and destruction.”
House Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Michael McCall (R-Texas), also a major supporter of providing F-16s to Kiev, also voiced his dissatisfaction with the Biden administration on Sunday.
“If you walk slow or slow down on this one, it will drag you out. And that’s what Putin wants,” McCall said.
