House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) hinted Sunday that Russia would not have invaded Ukraine if the US had delivered arms to Kyiv sooner.
“This is going to get stronger and tougher, and what really needs to happen is that Ukraine doesn’t call on American men and women to fight, only guns to defend themselves,” McCarthy told Fox News Washington correspondent Mike Emanuel over Fox News Sunday.
“If we had taken these measures earlier instead of waiting for Russia to invade, they probably never would have invaded if we did that earlier,” he added.
He later said sending arms to Ukraine earlier could have saved thousands of lives.
“Ukraine craved the ability to defend itself. Had we gotten the guns to Ukraine earlier so they could defend themselves, it would have saved thousands of lives and probably Putin’s decision not to enter the country,” McCarthy said, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The allegation came in the seventh week of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which began on February 24.
The Biden administration has provided more than $3.2 billion in security aid to Ukraine, including $2.6 billion since the invasion began.
This aid included anti-tank weapons, unmanned drones, small arms, ammunition and defense equipment.
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McCarthy also took aim at the government on Sunday for rejecting Poland’s proposal to move MiG-29 fighter jets to a US airbase in Germany, which would then fly to Ukraine to help its forces fight Russia.
The Pentagon eventually said the proposal was not “sustainable.”
“The President has denied that Ukraine and Poland provided MiGs to Ukraine to protect themselves during a flyover. All of this is wrong action in the future,” McCarthy said.