Ukraine needs an influx of fighter jets from NATO allies and an embargo on Russian oil, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told U.S. lawmakers on the heels of NATO’s refusal to impose a no-fly zone in Ukrainian skies.
Ukrainian fighters need the jets “because their [anti-aircraft defenses] got destroyed on day one,” a source familiar with the conversation told the Washington Examiner, adding that Zelensky also communicated during a virtual meeting with U.S. lawmakers Saturday morning that they “need an oil embargo on Russia.”
“He also opened with something like ‘this might be the last time you see me alive,’” the source familiar with the conversation said, likely referring to the Ukrainian president’s reported survival of at least three assassination attempts amid reports that he has been targeted by Russian forces.
ZELENSKY CONDEMNS NATO ‘WEAKNESS’ FOR REFUSAL TO THWART RUSSIAN AIRSTRIKES
Those tandem military and economic initiatives represent a desperate effort to thwart an offensive that Western analysts expect will end in a brutal Russian victory despite Ukraine’s unexpected resilience in the first days of the invasion. Zelensky’s frustration with Western officials was on full display, as he acknowledged the value of the sanctions that have been imposed on Russia but said they came too little, too late.
“There would not have been an invasion” if Western leaders had implemented the penalties months prior, as Russian forces were mobilizing around Ukraine, the source said in a paraphrase of Zelensky’s remarks to members of Congress.
His appeal resonated with U.S. lawmakers in the meeting.
“The U.S. must impose both an import ban on Russian energy and secondary sanctions to force other countries to do the same,” Sen. Pat Toomey, a Pennsylvania Republican, wrote on Twitter. “I also implore NATO countries to donate Soviet-made fighter jets to Ukraine. The White House should act now so Ukraine receives the jets they need for self-defense.”
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer agreed the planes were “very much needed“ following Zelensky’s appeal.
“President Zelensky made a desperate plea for Eastern European countries to provide Russian-made planes to Ukraine,” Schumer said after the call. “These planes are very much needed. And I will do all I can to help the administration to facilitate their transfer.”
President Joe Biden’s administration has attempted to strike a balance between imposing “severe” economic punishments on Russia and permitting the flow of Russian oil and gas, for fear of energy shortages in Europe and sky-rocketing gas prices in the United States if the Russian exports are cut off.
But he faces a congressional revolt as the invading Russian forces bombard Ukrainian civilian targets.
“It is incumbent upon the United States to ensure that our Ukrainian allies have what they need to defend themselves and that Putin does not have resources he needs to fund his war machine,” Texas Sen. Ted Cruz said Saturday.
Cruz, who authored the bipartisan legislation that required the U.S. to sanction Russia’s Nord Stream 2 pipeline to Germany, suggested that a wider bill could soon force Biden’s hand if he does not endorse Zelensky’s appeal for a total ban on Russian energy exports.
“If the Biden administration won’t do so on its own, Congress should mandate that they do so,” the Senate Foreign Relations Committee member said. “As President Zelensky told us, boycotting Russian oil and gas would be the most potent sanction we can impose, by far, and it is also the only economic sanction that can tenably and quickly affect Russia’s ability to continue financing its aggression.”
Some localities within the U.S. have heeded the calls from members of Congress, with the largest city in New Jersey voting on Wednesday to suspend the licenses for gas franchises of Lukoil, a company based in Russia.
If expanded throughout the nation, that economic measure would intensify the indirect pressure on Russia’s military campaign, but Ukrainian officials, fearing Russian plans to raze Ukrainian cities with airstrikes to break the resistance with minimal cost to their military, hope that other countries that emerged from behind the Iron Curtain after the collapse of the Soviet Union can provide a rapid infusion of new air power for the Ukrainian military.
Four members of NATO (Poland, Slovakia, Romania, and Bulgaria) own the Soviet-era warplanes that are already familiar to Ukrainian pilots, who also inherited a Soviet-made military.
European Union High Representative Josep Borrell announced on Sunday that some of the planes would be transferred to Ukraine, in addition to the anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles already being provided by NATO allies. But those plans went awry due to Western fears that such a gift would raise the risk of conflict between NATO and Russia, if the planes conducted combat missions from Poland.
“Three nations offered aircraft,” retired Air Force Gen. Philip Breedlove, who served as NATO’s supreme allied commander for Europe from 2013 to 2016, told the Washington Examiner, but “there were three or four very large nations [in NATO] that said that was unacceptable.”
The retired general argued that the planes could be transferred into Ukrainian custody by land, the same fashion as the other weapons that U.S. and European allies are providing.
“If we simply give Ukraine the aircraft and as much support equipment as we can get them, and let them take them to Ukraine and fly and fight with them, I think that might be much more acceptable to those nations that opposed the original proposal,” he said. “But it seems like it’s just all been rejected out of hand, and rather than working to find a way to make this work, we’ve just rejected it.”
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On Thursday, the Biden administration submitted a proposal to Congress seeking $10 billion in aid to Ukraine to complement last week’s release of $350 million in assistance. Nevertheless, Biden has remained adamant that he will not deploy troops.
