MUNICH — A Republican U.S. senator who opposes the United States providing more funding to Ukraine argued at an international security conference Sunday that the package stalled in Congress will not “fundamentally change the reality” in the conflict zone and that Russia has an incentive to negotiate peace.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Vice President Kamala Harris and others have advocated for approval of the $60 billion in aid at the Munich Security Conference, which coincided with the withdrawal of Ukrainian soldiers from the eastern city of Avdiivka after months of intense fighting.
But Senator JD Vance, Republican of Ohio and an ally of Donald Trump, said that “the problem in Ukraine… is that there is no clear end point” and that the United States does not make enough weapons to support wars in Eastern Europe, Middle East and “potentially a contingency in East Asia.”
Republicans have called for a strategy that guarantees victory in the war and accountability for the funds awarded.
They will not “rush” it
House Speaker Mike Johnson insists he will not be “rushed” into passing the Senate’s $95.3 billion foreign aid package that includes aid for Ukraine, despite overwhelming support from most Democrats and almost half of the Republicans.
If the package is approved, “that will not fundamentally change the reality on the battlefield,” Vance argued, pointing to limited American weapons manufacturing capacity.
“Can we send the level of weaponry that we have sent for the last 18 months?” he asked. “We just can’t. “No matter how many checks the United States Congress writes, we are limited in that.”
“I think what is reasonable to achieve is some negotiated peace,” he said, arguing that Russia, Ukraine, Europe and the United States all have an incentive to come to the table now and that the two-year war will eventually end in peace. negotiated.
Source: With information from AP
