McConnell Urges Biden To Send More Aid To Ukraine Amid Russian Invasion

Ukraine Reportedly Plans To Request Drones And Other Advanced Equipment From U.S.

Ukraine will request more military equipment from the United States when President Volodymyr Zelensky addresses lawmakers Wednesday, two unnamed European diplomats told the New York Times Tuesday.

Ukraine will reportedly ask for armed drones and more advanced mobile air defense systems. Since Russia invaded, the U.S. has supplied Ukraine with Javelin anti-tank missiles and Stinger surface-to-air missiles, and Ukraine has used Turkish-made Bayraktar TB2 drones.

Biden is expected to announce another $1 billion in Ukrainian military aid Wednesday, sending more Stingers and Javelins to Ukraine, unnamed U.S. officials told the Wall Street Journal Tuesday. The funding will come out of the $13.6 billion set aside for Ukrainian aid in a $1.5 trillion annual spending bill Congress passed last week.

The Times reported that Ukrainian officials think the Biden Administration might be more willing to supply Ukraine with drones and mobile air defense equipment than the Soviet-era MiG-29 fighter jets it declined to send last week. Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby said these planes—which the Polish government offered to send to a U.S. base in order to transfer them to Ukraine—were unlikely to significantly increase the Ukrainian air force’s effectiveness, and Russia may view sending them as an escalatory act.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said Tuesday sending these jets to Ukraine is “still under discussion,” and called on the Biden Administration to assist Ukraine in every way it can, short of sending U.S. troops to Ukraine or implementing a no-fly zone.

Russia Bringing More Troops To Ukraine From Afar As Invasion Stalls, U.K. Says

The Russian military is likely “struggling to conduct offensive operations” amid stiff Ukrainian resistance and heavy losses, forcing it to recruit foreign fighters and deploy troops from the far reaches of Russia, the U.K. Ministry of Defense said in an intelligence update Tuesday.

Personnel from the Russian Far East and the Pacific Fleet—as well as troops in allied Armenia—are redeploying, the Ministry of Defense said. Russia is also seeking to use private mercenaries and fighters from Syria, according to the update, following earlier reports that Russia is currently recruiting Syrians with urban combat experience and had sent military contractors from the secretive Wagner Group into eastern Ukraine before the invasion.

The Ministry of Defense didn’t specify how many troops have been redeployed, or whether any of these additional fighters have entered Ukraine yet.

Russia may use the additional forces to “hold captured territory and free up its combat power to renew stalled offensive operations,” the update said. The Russian military has captured several cities in southern Ukraine, but its advance toward Kyiv has been slow and halting amid fierce Ukrainian resistance. Some experts also think the force Russia initially assembled to invade Ukraine—as many as 190,000 troops—may be too small to hold cities and suppress Ukrainian resistance, especially since the Russian military has faced heavy losses.

— Joe Walsh

U.S. To Send $186 million In Humanitarian Aid For Ukrainian Refugees

The U.S. will provide over $186 million in humanitarian aid for Ukrainians displaced by Russia’s invasion, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced Tuesday.

Blinken said the funds will assist humanitarian organizations and Ukraine’s neighboring countries, which have welcomed more than 3 million refugees since Russia invaded three weeks ago, according to the United Nations.

Blinken notes that the U.S. has provided nearly $300 million in humanitarian aid to Ukraine and the surrounding region in the last month—the largest amount from any single nation. Last week, the U.S. Senate passed a $1.5 trillion annual spending bill that included another $13.6 billion in assistance to Ukraine, $4 billion of which would be used to help refugees.

More than 1.8 million Ukrainians have fled to Poland, according to the U.N., with some Polish cities reporting they are struggling to accommodate the influx of people.

—Mason Bissada

McConnell Says Biden Administration Is ‘Dragging Its Heels’ In Assisting Ukraine

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) criticized the Biden Administration on Tuesday for “dragging its heels” on military assistance to Ukraine, after the federal government decided not to back a plan to provide fighter jets to the Ukrainian air force.

“It seems to me, the president believes that any effort to help the Ukrainians is potentially provocative to the Russians,” McConnell said while addressing the media.

McConnell said he agrees with President Joe Biden that U.S. troops should not be sent to Ukraine, but there are “a lot of weapons that are extremely effective at controlling the air.” McConnell pointed to the Polish government’s offer to send its Soviet-era MiG-29 fighter jets to a U.S. base for eventual transfer to Ukraine, an offer the Biden Administration declined.

The United States and its allies have sent weapons to Ukraine, including Stinger surface-to-air missiles and Javelin anti-tank missiles. However, Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby said last week the MiG-29 planes were “not likely to significantly change the effectiveness of the Ukrainian air force,” and could be taken as an escalatory act by Russia.

In a letter addressed to the administration last week, McConnell and 41 other Republican senators urged Biden to reconsider this decision. McConnell said Tuesday the possibility of sending MiG-29 fighter jets is “still under discussion.”

When asked whether the United States should sanction China if it elects to assist Russia by supplying it with military aid, McConnell said he is “open to applying any pressure we possibly can” to countries that help Russia.

—Mason Bissada

Key Takeaways: Biden Will Head To Europe Next Week, Oil Prices Fall Under $100 A Barrel

• President Joe Biden will travel to Europe next week for meetings with European leaders, including a meeting at NATO’s headquarters in Brussels and a separate summit with a European council.
• A Fox News cameraman, Pierre Zakrzewski, was killed while reporting near Kyiv on Monday, and Zakrzewski’s Fox News colleague Benjamin Hall remains hospitalized due to injuries sustained in the same incident.
• The U.S. Treasury Department said Tuesday it had renewed sanctions on Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko and applied them for the first time to his wife, Halina Radzivonawna Lukashenka, blocking their property and interests in the U.S. and prohibiting Americans from making transactions with them.
• European benchmark Brent crude fell below $100 per barrel for the first time in almost three weeks on Tuesday as ceasefire talks between Russia and Ukraine alleviated some concerns of supply disruptions; Brent was down more than 7% to $99.15 in Thursday afternoon trading.

—Derek Saul and Anna Kaplan