Lawmaker: ‘US Congress doesn’t need to pass Democrat bills to fund Ukraine’s war against Russia’

Republican Representative Mike Turner (from Ohio) has said the US Congress does not need to pass “Democrat bills” to fund Ukraine’s war against Russia. 

Turner said on Sunday the incoming Republican majority in the House of Representatives will spend less money to fund Kiev’s war against Russia.

Turner said that he personally told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky he will have bipartisan support in the next Congress, but also said Republicans will closely look at how much is being spent in funding Ukraine’s war against Russia.

“We don’t need to pass $40 billion, large Democrat bills … to send $8 billion dollars to Ukraine,” Turner said. “It’s been very frustrating, obviously, even to the Ukrainians, when they hear these large numbers in the United States as the result of the burgeoned Democrat bills.”

The US Congress has reportedly allocated a total of $65 billion in funding for Kiev since Russia began its military operation in Ukraine in late February.

Presumptive House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California has already warned that House Republicans are “not going to write a blank check to Ukraine.”

A number of Republicans have challenged the amount of US aid already shipped to Ukraine, arguing that the US has more pressing domestic issues and that the fate of Ukraine is not tied to American national interests and that European allies should be delivering a larger share of weapons and other aids to Kiev.

Turner on Sunday said Republicans will make sure that Ukraine “gets what they need,” including critical weapons like air defenses after Russia has pounded the country with a wave of missile strikes.

“We need to make certain we work with partners and pull together an air defense system … to defend Kyiv, to defend their infrastructure,” he said.

Only last week, the United States has said it would provide $4.5 billion in financial support for Ukraine, with the funds aimed at "bolstering economic stability and supporting core government services."

"These funds will begin disbursing in the coming weeks," US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said.

She added that the aid will be delivered to Ukraine's government and help it against Russia's military action "by bolstering economic stability and supporting core government services, including wages for hospital workers, government employees, and teachers.”

Ex- Reagan administration official: US using Ukraine conflict to weaken Russia

A former Ronald Reagan administration official says the United States is using the Ukraine conflict as a tool to weaken Russia.

Russia has repeatedly warned that supplying Kiev with more and more weapons will only exacerbate the conflict, which is now in its ninth month.

Continuously flooding Ukraine with weapons "will only drag the conflict out and make it more painful for the Ukrainian side, but it will not change our goals and the end result," the Kremlin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said earlier this month.

Peskov insisted that the US was in reality engaged in the Ukraine conflict. "The US de facto has become deeply involved," he said.

His remarks echoed those of Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who said that Washington had "been participating de facto in this war for a long time."

"This war is being controlled by the Anglo-Saxons," Lavrov said.

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