Mitt Romney, a Republican Senator from Utah, and a member of Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee, commented on the situation around Ukraine and the need to provide assistance for Kyiv.
Senator said that he is find it hard to understand the argument that suggests that the USA would not stand with a sovereign nation that we have committed to help support their sovereignty.
The United States agree to do that back in the 1990s, when Ukraine gave up their nuclear weapons. “For us to walk away from that and to walk away from the defense of freedom strikes me as being a very bad miscalculation on the part of our nation”, said Romney. He also mentioned that if Americans were to do that, in part because they do well in a world where there is freedom and democracy and where people can buy American goods and services. Senator also underlined that “walking away from like-minded people would be a mistake”.
Talking about expected Russian offensive this summer and perspectives for Ukraine, senator said that Ukraine is going up against a massive superpower, and as an underdog. But he also pointed that a lot of people, even in the US government, felt that Ukraine would collapse in the very first few days of the Russian invasion. Despite this the Ukrainians “have performed extraordinarily well. Their leadership was strong. Their people were determined and courageous”, Senator said. He reminded that all Ukraine is asking for from the USA is the weaponry. Romney also stated that it’s in America’s interest to see Vladimir Putin get the message: “You can’t invade your neighbors. And if you do invade, there will be consequence.”
Senator also stressed that if the US government was to shrink from providing support to a nation that wants to defend itself, then no nation in the world would believe the USA anymore. “And Russia would invade their neighbor, another neighbor, Poland, a NATO nation. We’d be committed at that point to send in troops to help defend Poland and other NATO nations that Putin might invade”, Romney said. He reminded that keeping American troops out of harm’s way is a high priority for the US government.
This comment comes just a few days after the US Department of Defense announced additional security assistance to meet Ukraine’s critical security and defense needs. This Presidential Drawdown Authority (PDA) package has an estimated value of $400 million and includes capabilities to support Ukraine’s most urgent battlefield requirements, including air defense, artillery rounds, armored vehicles, and anti-tank weapons.
