WASHINGTON -- Two members of the U.S. Congress who visited Ukraine in April said the United States should provide Ukraine with the military equipment it needs to win the war against Moscow, including the means to strike inside Russia.
Senator Joni Ernst (Republican-Iowa) and Representative Tom Suozzi (Democrat-New York), speaking in Washington as the NATO summit opened in the U.S. capital, said Congress should step up its pledges to provide weapons to ensure that Ukraine defeats Russia’s full-scale invasion.
“We need to give them what they need,” Ernst said on July 9 at an event sponsored by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a Washington think tank. “I do believe that we should provide them what they need to strike inside of Russia.”
Ernst added that the Ukrainians should be able to be as aggressive as they need to be to win the war and not left in a defensive situation with their hands tied.
Ernst and Suozzi traveled to Ukraine in early April as part of a bipartisan delegation that looked into the military situation in the country. The delegation met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, his military advisers, journalists, and prosecutors.
SEE ALSO: Biden Tells NATO Summit Russia 'Will Not Prevail,' Promises Ukraine New Air-Defense SystemsAt the time, the U.S. House of Representatives was under pressure to vote on a major aid package for Ukraine that had been held up in Congress for months. It passed later in April, providing more than $60 billion to Ukraine, but during the delay Russian forces made gains on the battlefield as Zelenskiy became more and more frustrated over the stalled aid.
Ernst, a former military officer and combat veteran, supported the aid, but she criticized President Joe Biden’s administration, which she said had not “clearly articulated a strategy for what is needed to win.”
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Suozzi said the NATO summit this week is an important opportunity to show Russian President Vladimir Putin that his aggression will not be tolerated, particularly after Russia carried out strikes on July 8 -- including on a children’s hospital in Kyiv -- that killed dozens across the country.
“I don’t think we can tie the hands of the Ukrainians,” Suozzi said. “What [the Russians] are doing is merciless,” he added, referring to the strike that hit the hospital.
“We have got to send a message to Putin that this is not going to be tolerated,” he said, advocating for more potent weapons from the United States.
“Sometimes you have to punch a bully in the nose,” Suozzi said.
He noted that Russia has been able to retrofit older bombs with fins to create glide bombs that have been used to hit Ukrainian cities. He agreed with Ernst that he wants more restrictions lifted so that Ukraine can use U.S.-supplied weapons more broadly.
Suozzi cited a Russian airfield from which planes that launch the glide bombs take off, suggesting that if Ukraine could hit that airfield, it could wipe out a huge number of Russian planes.
The Democrat was more positive than Ernst on how he viewed the administration’s relationship with NATO. He praised Biden's efforts to hold the alliance together and said the NATO summit would “cement” that.
“The greatest strength we have right now is that we have held together this Western alliance,” Suozzi said, adding that in his opinion the Europeans “stepped up” when the U.S. aid was stalled. “The Europeans have been doing their part,” he said.
SEE ALSO: NATO At 75: A Journey From Cold War 'Bulwark' To Global Security ForceA former Trump administration official whose views contrasted with those of the two lawmakers also spoke during the first day of the NATO summit.
Elbridge Colby, who served as deputy assistant secretary of defense for strategy and force development under President Donald Trump, said Europe should do more to help Ukraine, while the United States should “calibrate” its support.
The United States is “over invested” in Ukraine, Colby said, suggesting that the Europeans can do more.
“The degree of support has been inconsistent with our own needs,” he said, speaking at a separate event on July 9 at the Heritage Institute, a conservative Washington think tank.
He agreed that Russia is a threat, but said “the biggest obstacle is the perception of need on the part of the Europeans. We need to focus on the practicalities.”