WASHINGTON (AP) — Former President Donald Trump, who portrayed himself as hard on Russia, has downplayed the level of U.S. military aid to Ukraine during the Obama-Biden administration, claiming that only he himself has not in recent history was faced with a Russian invasion of another country. Not true.
Trump Vice President Mike Pence, meanwhile, made the suspicious claim that all Ukrainian weapons currently in use came from the Trump administration.
A look at the claims and reality over the weekend:
TRUMP, comparing military aid in his administration to that under President Barack Obama: “I was the one who sent the javelins, not Obama. Obama sent blankets.” – Saturday’s rally in Commerce, Georgia.
PENCE: “The Obama-Biden administration just sent them meals and blankets.” – Interview Friday on Fox News Channel.
THE FACTS: Trump and Pence misrepresent aid levels under Obama and Biden and gloss over their own delays in aid to Ukraine.
In 2014, while the Obama administration refused to provide Ukraine with lethal weapons to fight Russia-backed separatists, it offered a range of other military and security aids — not just “blankets.” The government feared that the deployment of deadly weapons such as Javelin anti-tank missiles could provoke Russian President Vladimir Putin into escalating the conflict in Ukraine’s separatist Donbas region near the Russian border.
As of March 2015, the Obama administration had provided more than $120 million in security aid to Ukraine and promised $75 million in equipment, including counter-mortar radars, night vision goggles and medical supplies, according to the Defense Department. The US has also pledged 230 Humvee vehicles.
The US offer of help came after Putin annexed Crimea in 2014 and backed separatists in eastern cities.
Ultimately, between 2014 and 2016, the Obama administration provided more than $600 million in security assistance to Ukraine.
During the last year of the Obama administration, the US created the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, which provided US military equipment and training to help defend Ukraine against Russian aggression. From 2016 to 2019, Congress allocated $850 million for this initiative.
The Trump administration agreed to provide lethal aid to Ukraine in 2017 and later committed to selling $47 million worth of spears.
But two years later, Trump delayed the release of congressional-approved security aid to Ukraine to pressure Ukraine to announce an investigation into his political rival Joe Biden. The matter was part of Trump’s 2020 impeachment trial.
___
TRUMP: “In fact, I’m the only 21st-century president under whose watch Russia and Putin have not invaded another country.” — Saturday rally.
THE FACTS: Trump isn’t alone.
Putin, who was President of Russia from 2000 to 2008 and then Prime Minister before returning to the presidency in 2012, actually invaded Georgia in 2008 during George W. Bush’s second term. In 2014 he also invaded Ukraine under Obama’s supervision. It is also true that Putin has not invaded any country during Trump’s tenure.
But even Bill Clinton, who ended his second term in January 2001, has never seen Putin invade another country. Russia attacked Chechnya twice in the 1990s, but Chechnya is a region of Russia, not a country.
___
PENCE: “Ukrainian soldiers are using the weapons our government provided them with and they have been suspended by the Biden government.” – Fox interview.
THE FACTS: That’s a stretch. With both sides rapidly depleting arms and ammunition in the brutal war between Ukraine and Russia, it is doubtful that the javelins Ukraine received from the US during the Trump years would still be on the shelf. Trump has not provided the Ukrainians with Stinger anti-aircraft systems.
Including the $800 million package announced by Biden on March 16, total planned military aid to Ukraine since Biden took office is approximately $2 billion. The aid, which comes in part from $13.6 billion in military and humanitarian aid recently approved by Congress to help Ukraine and its neighbors, includes a range of deadly weapons such as Stingers, Javelin anti-tank systems, Mi -17 helicopters and grenade launchers, Humvees, body armor and helmets.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called on the West to supply his country with fighter jets and anti-aircraft missiles, stressing on Sunday that “this is necessary not only for the freedom of Ukraine, but also for the freedom of Europe”.
___
EDITOR’S NOTE – A look at the veracity of politicians’ claims.
___
For AP fact checks, visit http://apnews.com/APFactCheck
Follow @APFactCheck on Twitter: https://twitter.com/APFactCheck