Discussion · Senate
Alan Armstrong Republican
“Ukraine needs air defense interceptors, parts, and ammunition to protect its people from Russian missiles and drones. I support this bill because it makes it easier for our European allies to buy American weapons and send them to Ukraine. Europe should pay more of the cost, and this bill helps them do that.”
“Well, we certainly learned that on the very frontline, Ukrainians are doing a great job of actually way outperforming the Russians on the frontline. But the thing they are not capable today of defending themselves from are the ballistic missiles and the jet- powered drones that they don’t--the Ukrainians don’t have the capabilities of building interceptors for that. So you sit there on the frontlines with a lot of death going on and destruction among soldiers, but meanwhile, you have, every night while we were there, air raid sirens continuously. And so you think about the impact on the people there. So they are really sitting there somewhat defenseless with drones in the air every night and ballistic missiles. And so what I think we can do is they do need air defense interceptors; they need spare parts and ammunition that assist in the defense of their lands and their citizens, and they need them consistently. And so that is one reason that I support the bipartisan Fast Tracking European Investment in Ukraine’s Defense Act. That is S. 5175. This legislation would make it easier for NATO allies and other designated partners to purchase and transfer certain defensive munitions to Ukraine while maintaining congressional notification safeguards against unauthorized retransfer. So this cannot be an American effort alone. Our European allies have an enormous stake, and they understand that and they should continue to carry more of the burden. But S. 5175 is actually designed to help them do that, and it welcomes greater allied investment in the American defense base and creates a more predictable pathway for our allies and partners to provide Ukraine with specified American-made munitions. And so I would just say that that is, you know, we do--the Europeans are stepping up. I would say that is one thing that has come very positive out of that--they understand that--but we need to be taking the actions if we expect them to be aligned with us on the weaponry. And the weaponry they use, we need to make sure we are adequately providing it to them so they can help support Ukraine as well. So that is one of the particular actions I think we need to take as well.”
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Speech in the House
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Well, we certainly learned that on the very frontline, Ukrainians are doing a great job of actually way outperforming the Russians on the frontline. But the thing they are not capable today of defending themselves from are the ballistic missiles and the jet- powered drones that they don’t--the Ukrainians don’t have the capabilities of building interceptors for that. So you sit there on the frontlines with a lot of death going on and destruction among soldiers, but meanwhile, you have, every night while we were there, air raid sirens continuously. And so you think about the impact on the people there. So they are really sitting there somewhat defenseless with drones in the air every night and ballistic missiles. And so what I think we can do is they do need air defense interceptors; they need spare parts and ammunition that assist in the defense of their lands and their citizens, and they need them consistently. And so that is one reason that I support the bipartisan Fast Tracking European Investment in Ukraine’s Defense Act. That is S. 5175. This legislation would make it easier for NATO allies and other designated partners to purchase and transfer certain defensive munitions to Ukraine while maintaining congressional notification safeguards against unauthorized retransfer. So this cannot be an American effort alone. Our European allies have an enormous stake, and they understand that and they should continue to carry more of the burden. But S. 5175 is actually designed to help them do that, and it welcomes greater allied investment in the American defense base and creates a more predictable pathway for our allies and partners to provide Ukraine with specified American-made munitions. And so I would just say that that is, you know, we do--the Europeans are stepping up. I would say that is one thing that has come very positive out of that--they understand that--but we need to be taking the actions if we expect them to be aligned with us on the weaponry. And the weaponry they use, we need to make sure we are adequately providing it to them so they can help support Ukraine as well. So that is one of the particular actions I think we need to take as well.