House Speaker John A. Boehner blasted President Obama Wednesday for providing non-lethal military equipment to Ukraine instead of arms, saying the aid will prove “completely ineffective.”
“The Ukrainians are begging for help, and the Congress is begging the administration to provide the defensive, lethal assistance we authorized in December,” said Cory Fritz, a spokesman for the Ohio Republican. “Our allies deserve better.”
Sidestepping a bipartisan call from Congress to send arms to Ukraine, the Obama administration said Wednesday it instead will provide an additional $75 million in non-lethal military equipment to Kiev in its fight against Russian-backed rebels.
The military aid will include counter-mortar radar, unarmed drones, radios and medical equipment, a U.S official said Wednesday. Mr. Obama also has approved sending 30 armored Humvees and up to 200 unarmored Humvees.
Most of the supplies will be funded by the European Reassurance Initiative, a senior administration official said.
White House press secretary Josh Earnest would not concede that the move indicates the administration never will provide lethal arms to Ukraine.
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“The president, I think, in his own mind, is continuing to evaluate the situation in eastern Ukraine and continuing to assess the risk associated with providing additional lethal assistance to the Ukrainian military,” Mr. Earnest said.
Also Wednesday, the Treasury Department added to its sanctions list 14 Ukrainian separatists and Russians, including former Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov.
And the International Monetary Fund board of directors signed off on Ukraine’s new $17.5 billion package of financial aid Wednesday, IMF chief Christine Lagarde announced.
In February, the IMF pledged the new aid package to Ukraine over the next four years in additional to a $17 billion aid package in April 2014. Without the IMF funds, Ukraine’s economy would likely collapse, as fighting continues in the country’s east against anti-government forces.
Russian President Vladimir Putin denies arming the rebels in the war, which has killed more than 6,000 people and forced more than 1 million to flee their homes. The fighting began in April, after Russia annexed the mostly Russian-speaking Crimean Peninsula.
Vice President Joseph R. Biden informed Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko of the new U.S. assistance in a phone call Wednesday.
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Mr. Biden “noted with concern the ongoing violations of the cease-fire by Russia-backed separatists near Donetsk and Mariupol and their refusal to allow [Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe] monitors unfettered access to the territory they occupy,” the White House said.
Last week, a bipartisan group of congressional leaders, including Mr. Boehner, urged Mr. Obama to send arms to Ukraine.
“It is even more than simply a component of a revisionist Russian strategy to redraw international borders and impose its will on its neighbors,” the lawmakers said in a letter. “It is a grotesque violation of international law, a challenge to the west and an assault on the international order established at such great cost in the wake of World War II.”
A senior administration official said the U.S. is continuing to urge Russia to negotiate with Ukraine and other countries in the region “to reach a lasting resolution to the conflict.”
“While we continue to believe that there is no military resolution to this crisis, Ukraine has the right to defend itself,” the official said.
⦁ Maggie Ybarra and Ben Wolfgang contributed to this report.
• Dave Boyer can be reached at dboyer@washingtontimes.com.
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