- Sens. Lindsey Graham, Richard Blumenthal and Sheldon Whitehouse were in Kiev on Friday.
- After meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Graham called on the West to send tanks.
- “Putin is trying to rewrite the map of Europe by force of arms,” Graham said.
Senator Lindsey Graham called on the US and Germany to send tanks to Ukraine’s military during a visit to Kiev on Friday, as Western defense officials meeting in Germany failed to agree on sending the weapons.
The Republican from South Carolina visited Ukraine along with Democratic Senators Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island. Three deputies, who supported sending an additional assistant to Ukraine, met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
“All three of us, one Republican and two Democrats, share the same goal — for Ukraine to drive the Russians out of Ukraine. To achieve that goal, the Ukrainian military needs tanks,” Graham said during a press conference after the meeting and at Twitter. “I’m tired of the crap show about who will send the tanks and when they will send them. Putin is trying to rewrite the map of Europe by force of arms. The world order is at stake.”
Graham’s request came as US and German defense officials could not agree on sending battle tanks to Ukraine. Kyiv has invited NATO and other European countries to send German-made Leopard 2 tanks, but that requires German approval, as previously reported by Insider’s Jake Epstein.
—Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) January 20, 2023
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has said he does not want to approve sending German-made tanks to Ukraine unless the U.S. sends its own tanks, according to several reports. Kyiv has also called on the US to send powerful M1 Abrams tanks, but President Joe Biden has avoided doing so.
Western defense officials meeting in Germany on Friday failed to reach an agreement on the issue, drawing criticism from officials in Ukraine and Poland. However, officials from both the US and Germany suggested that the latter might still approve sending the Leopard and that in the meantime Germany would make a list of its tanks. Poland also said it could even send its Leopard tanks to Ukraine without Berlin’s approval.
“To the Germans: Send tanks to Ukraine because they need them. It’s in your national interest for Putin to lose in Ukraine,” Graham said on Friday. “To the Biden administration: Send in US tanks so others will follow our lead.”