McConnell: Delay in aid to Ukraine ‘tense prospects’ of defeating Russia

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) said Tuesday that the months-long delay in sending military aid to Ukraine undermined its chances of defeating Russia on the battlefield and was based on what he called “ pure fiction” perpetuated by some colleagues that supporting Ukraine is not a vital national security interest.

“Much of the hesitation and shortsightedness that has delayed this moment is premised on pure fiction. And I take no pleasure in refuting misguided fantasies,” McConnell said in a speech responding to colleagues in both chambers who have dragged out consideration of military aid to Ukraine since President Biden requested it in October.

“Make no mistake: the delay in providing Ukraine with the weapons to defend itself has harmed prospects for defeating Russian aggression. Hesitation and hesitation have compounded the challenges we face,” he said.

McConnell aimed his blunt comments at his party’s critics, such as Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), who argued that the Ukraine aid package will not turn the tide of war and questioned whether the United States even has the industrial power capacity to allow Ukraine to match Russia’s arsenal of drones, missiles and 155 mm artillery shells.

Vance wrote in a New York Times op-ed last month “the math on Ukraine doesn’t add up.”

“Fundamentally, we do not have the capacity to manufacture the quantity of weapons that Ukraine needs to supply to win the war,” he wrote.

But McConnell on Tuesday reiterated his argument that the $95 billion foreign aid package will bolster U.S. weapons production as well as the domestic economy.

“Across Europe, the acceleration of defense spending is outpacing ours. And right now, allies and partners from Europe to the Indo-Pacific have contracted more than $100 billion in cutting-edge American weapons and capabilities,” he noted.

“Our allies around the world are buying expensive, sophisticated American weapons, produced in American factories by American workers. Do my colleagues really think this will continue if America decides that global leadership is too much of a burden?” he asked.

McConnell also warned colleagues about the risks to U.S. national security, warning that abandoning the war in Ukraine would only embolden the country’s adversaries, including Iran and China.

“Failure to reestablish deterrence against Iran means encouraging unbridled terrorist violence against American personnel, our ally Israel and the international commerce that sustains our prosperity,” he said.

“And failure to keep pace with the threat – the People’s Republic of China – means putting at risk the entire system of alliances that preserve American interests and reinforce American leadership,” he added.

McConnell said fellow senators who reject the value of U.S. alliances “ignore what history teaches about times when we did not have such friendships.”

And he noted that U.S. allies such as Japan fully understand the potential repercussions of a Russian victory in Ukraine and what it would likely mean for Chinese ambitions in the Far East.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida appealed to lawmakers during a speech to Congress earlier this month not to doubt what he called the United States’ “indispensable” role in world affairs.

McConnell echoed that sentiment in his remarks Tuesday.

“American prosperity and security are the products of decades of American leadership,” he said.

And he argued that “our global interests come with global responsibilities” and that “healthy alliances ease the burden of these responsibilities”.

“And at the end of the day, the main language of strategic competition is strength,” he said.