Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell made it clear Sunday that he is confident most Republicans do not share Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s view that the United States should not be sending more military aid to Ukraine and that its war with Russia cannot be won.
Mr. McConnell said the opposite is true.
“There are some lonely voices out there,” the Kentucky Republican said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” “The vast majority of the Republican Party writ large — both in the Congress and across the country — are totally behind the Ukrainians and urging the president to take these steps quicker, to be bolder.”
“So there may be a few lonely voices off to the side,” he said. “I wouldn’t pay too much attention to them.”
Mr. McConnell’s comments come days after Ms. Greene, Georgia Republican, warned against sending more military aid to Ukraine, saying the Ukrainians cannot win the war with Russia.
“If we truly care about suffering and death on our television screens, we cannot fund more of it by sending money and weaponry to fight a war they cannot possibly win!” she said in a social media post. “The only effect of more arms and more money from America will be to prolong the war!”
Rep. Madison Cawthorn, North Carolina Republican, also grabbed headlines after a video surfaced of him calling Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy a “thug” and the Ukrainian government “incredibly evil.”
Mr. Zelenskyy, however, has received rave reviews from most lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.
Mr. McConnell said Sunday there is broad support for Ukraine among Senate Republicans.
Mr. Zelenskyy last week delivered an urgent appeal to Congress for more robust military support, while likening the Russian assault on Ukraine to Pearl Harbor and the Sept. 11 attacks.
Mr. Zelenskyy has urged the United States to send fighter jets to neighboring Poland to facilitate the transfer of Polish MiGs to Ukraine.
He also has intensified calls for NATO countries to create a no-fly zone over Ukraine to thwart the onslaught of Russian airstrikes that have pummeled Ukrainian cities.
Congress last week approved a $1.5 trillion government funding bill that includes $13.6 billion in emergency aid for Ukraine, which is set aside for humanitarian, defense and economic assistance.
The bill passed the House on a 221-171 vote, with 39 Republicans joining Democrats in passing the measure. It passed the Senate on a 68-31 vote, with 18 Republicans joining Democrats.
Ms. Greene voted against the massive spending bill.
In her video, she said the United States should be focused on brokering a Ukraine-Russia peace deal and said that it is too risky for the nation to get more involved.
“We can do all this without sending a dime and without shipping bombs to further inflame a war whose outcome already seems certain,” she said.
But Mr. McConnell said Sunday the Biden administration must do more to support Ukraine, and to promote the idea that Ukraine can emerge victorious.
“Ukrainians have killed more Russians in three weeks than we lost in Afghanistan and Iraq in 20 years,” he said. “I think we ought to go into this believing the Ukrainians can actually win and the way to win is for us to get these defensive weapons systems to them as rapidly as possible.”
Mr. McConnell said those weapon systems will help Ukraine control its skies, and also said he is open to sending more assistance.
“If they need more we ought to give them more,” he said.
Mr. McConnell also said Mr. Biden, who is traveling this week to Europe to meet with NATO allies, to also pay a visit to Eastern European allies to show “we are in this fight with them to win.”
“I think he needs to step up his game,” Mr. McConnell said. “He has generally done the right thing but never soon enough.”
• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.
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