Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican from Kentucky, shot back at politicians that he suggest the U.S. deprioritize funding aid to Ukraine.
“Right now,” he told a crowd at the McConnell Center, “loud voices on both sides of the aisle are suggesting that American leadership somehow isn't worth the cost. Some say our support for Ukraine comes at the expense of more important priorities. But as I said every time I got the chance this is a false choice, a false choice. America is a global superpower with global interests and enemies of democracy around the world would like nothing more than to outlast our resolve to resist Russian aggression. So let's remember what's at stake here.”
He went on to explain how inaction might end up more expensive than action: “Russian victory in Ukraine would imperil the security and economy of all of Europe, our largest trading partner and strategic ally since World War II, and endanger the engine of our own economic growth here at home. If Russia prevails there's no question that Putin's appetite for in power will actually extend into NATO, raising the threat to the U.S. transatlantic alliance and the risk of war for us. Such an outcome would demand greater permanent deployment of our military force in Europe, a much greater cost and the support we have provided to Ukraine.”
