President Obama has signed off on $75 million in nonlethal assistance for Ukraine, as critics accuse the administration of moving too slowly on providing aid for the Eastern European nation to fend off Russian aggressions.
“Vice President Biden informed [Ukrainian] President Poroshenko today that President Obama has approved the allocation of $75 million in Department of Defense European Reassurance Initiative funds to provide additional nonlethal equipment to Ukraine, and the transfer of 30 armored and up to 200 unarmored Humvees to Ukraine under other authorities,” a senior administration official said Wednesday. “This new assistance is part of our ongoing efforts to help sustain Ukraine’s defense and internal security operations and resist further aggression.”
However, the announcement falls well short of GOP demands for the Obama administration to provide lethal weaponry to Ukraine. The White House has resisted calls to give Kiev lethal aid, citing concerns that such weapons could fall under the control of Russian separatists.
However, Republicans say the Obama administration is not handling the Ukrainian crisis with the urgency it deserves.
“Our country made a commitment in 1994 to defend Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, which has been under a near constant assault by Russia for more than a year,” Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., said in a hearing on Capitol Hill Tuesday. “More recently, we lured Ukraine west by supporting their desire for closer association with Europe. Now with Ukraine’s future in the balance, the refusal of the administration to step up with more robust support for Ukraine and further pressure on Russia is a blight on U.S. policy and 70 years of defending a Europe that is whole, democratic and free.”
“This aid will be completely ineffective,” Cory Fritz, a spokesman for Speaker John Boehner, added on Wednesday. “The Ukrainians are begging for help, and the Congress is begging the administration to provide the defensive lethal assistance we authorized in December. Our allies deserve better.”
