Arizona Sen. John McCain took to social media on Monday to criticize President Obama for not offering military assistance in addition to financial aid to Ukraine and imposing sanctions on Russia.
McCain posted on his
Twitter feed that the president should have gone further by offering military assistance.
Earlier in the day, Obama froze the U.S. assets of seven Russian officials, including top advisers to President Vladimir Putin, for their support of Crimea's vote to secede from Ukraine, while the Treasury Department imposed sanctions on four Ukrainians — including former President Viktor Yanukovych — for their support of Crimea's separation.
In levying the most comprehensive
sanctions against Russia since the end of the Cold War, Obama said he was striving to "increase the cost" to Russia.
Obama also said the U.S. will provide a $1 billion financial aid package to Ukraine to help its economy.
McCain has been openly lobbying for providing military assistant to Ukraine.
Speaking from
Kiev, where he was part of a bipartisan delegation of U.S. senators who traveled to Ukraine ahead of the secession referendum in Crimea, McCain said providing Ukraine with long-term military assistance was "the right and decent thing to do."
After returning home, McCain
appeared on CNN's "State of the Union" and said, "We need to give long-term military assistance … because God knows what Vladimir Putin will do next."
To date, the Obama administration has only offered to send military
rations to Ukraine.
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