Republicans Brian Fitzpatrick, a representative from Pennsylvania, and Mike Pompeo, the US Secretary of State under former President Donald Trump, said Monday that Ukraine can be optimistic about US assistance, despite the $60 billion in US military aid for Ukraine currently being stalled in Congress.
“I can assure you that Ukraine will get the assistance it needs. This is not just Ukraine's fight, but it's the world's fight. Ukraine is on the front lines of democracy,” Fitzpatrick said at an event organized by the Viktor Pinchuk Foundation in Kyiv on Monday.
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While the US Senate passed a bipartisan funding measure that included funding for Ukraine, Israel, and other US allies on Feb. 13, House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican, called a recess, leaving the aid package for Ukraine without consideration until the House reconvenes on Feb. 28.
US President Joe Biden, a Democrat, was critical of Johnson’s decision to hold a recess before approving Ukraine aid, directly tying the recent fall of the Ukrainian stronghold of Avdiivka to Congress’s inability to get crucial ammunition to Ukrainians at the front lines.
Fitzpatrick said that he will have a conversation with Johnson on Feb. 26 and will urge the Speaker to support Ukraine.
“The question is how quickly it can come, and we understand the time sensitivity of this,” he said.
Fitzpatrick said that Republican leaders must communicate to their voters the importance of continuing to aid Ukraine’s defense as Russia’s full-scale invasion approaches the beginning of its third year.
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Meanwhile, Pompeo said that were former President Donald Trump reelected this year, it would not necessarily mean the diminishment of US support for Ukraine.
“Don't let the media deceive you. Let the reality set in. Let the reality of the Trump administration and its policy towards Ukraine suggest to you what the second Trump administration looks like,” Pompeo said.
“Which administration was the first administration to provide defensive weapons systems to this country? It was not the Obama administration. Indeed, it was the Obama administration that was unable to deter Vladimir Putin from taking a fifth of your country. It was the Trump administration that for four years deterred Vladimir Putin,” Pompeo said.
Pompeo said that in the conversation about Russia's war against Ukraine, politicians rarely talk about victory.
“We collectively must win. We have to win. We have to win in a way that decisively proves that our model, the model of the West, the model of the people of Ukraine, the model of the people of Europe, the model of the people of America, and those who believe in human dignity and property rights, and all of the things that have made America so successful for 250 years, we have to demonstrate that that's the victorious model,” he said.
Pompeo and Fitzpatrick urged Ukrainian officials to continue implementing reforms that would pave the way for membership in the NATO defensive alliance and to the EU.
“My advice would be to be vigilant on enacting those reforms, even when you have to fight a battle against Russia, which we will help you win, but to do your part as civil servants, civil societies, to call out corruption and organize and demand reforms be made because ultimately, that's what's going to be the game-changer for Ukraine to ultimately become part of the West,” Fitzpatrick said.
He said that the US intends to lead a new Marshall Plan directed towards Ukraine’s recovery at the end of the war.
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