Senate Minority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., told The Washington Post last week that fellow Republicans speaking out against giving more aid to Ukraine in its ongoing war with Russia are "getting way too much attention."
"I think there's been way too much attention given to a very few people who seem not to be invested in Ukraine's success," McConnell told the Post before leaving for the Munich Security Conference in Germany last week.
McConnell’s comments come as the war in Ukraine will mark its first anniversary Friday, a year after Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022.
During remarks at the conference Feb. 17, McConnell said that his party's support for Ukraine remains strong, and that people should not look at statements from Republican lawmakers on social media, but to the party's leadership including himself, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., and other GOP leaders for the party’s stance on Ukraine.
"My party's leaders overwhelmingly support a strong, involved America and a robust trans-Atlantic alliance. Don’t look at Twitter, look at people in power. Look at me and Speaker Kevin McCarthy," McConnell said during his address. "Look at the top Republicans on the Senate and House committees that handle armed services, foreign affairs, appropriations, and intelligence. Look at the former secretary of state, secretary of defense, national security adviser, and director of national intelligence from the previous Republican administration."
Some House and Senate Republicans have criticized the ongoing commitments to Ukraine and the more than $100 billion sent to aid that nation since the war began.
"Yeah, they're out of touch, but I also think that they're not facing the hard, tough choices here that we can't spend hundreds of billions of dollars in Ukraine, and ship Javelin stingers to Ukraine, and at the same time, say to the Taiwanese, We're going to help you do what you need to do to deter Chinese invasion," Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., told the Post last week. "We just can’t do both those things."
President Joe Biden made a surprise visit to Kyiv on Monday, pledging another $500 million in aid to that nation’s war effort.
"One year later, Kyiv stands," The Associated Press reported Biden declaring after meeting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at Mariinsky Palace Monday.
Jabbing his finger for emphasis on his podium, against a backdrop of three flags from each country, he continued: "And Ukraine stands. Democracy stands. The Americans stand with you, and the world stands with you."
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