WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell urged President Joe Biden on Wednesday to expand Ukraine’s air defenses, bolster the presence of U.S. forces on NATO’s eastern flank and visit eastern European countries.
Speaking less than two hours after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy addressed Congress, the top Senate Republican said Biden should give Ukraine “more effective, longer-range air defense capabilities” including Soviet-legacy warplanes from neighboring NATO countries such as Poland.
“President Zelenskiy specifically pleaded for these air defense systems this morning,” McConnell, an outspoken critic of Biden’s response to Ukraine, said in a Senate floor speech.
He also called on the Democratic president to increase the number of U.S. forces in eastern NATO countries and to use loan guarantee authorities to “harden the defenses of front-line allies and partners.”
Citing Biden’s plans for a trip to Europe next week, McConnell added: “President Biden should go beyond Brussels. He should go to countries like Poland, Romania or Lithuania to meet with NATO eastern flank allies, and he should look beyond NATO to deepen our our diplomatic and security cooperation with important American partners like Finland and Sweden.”
(Reporting by David Morgan and Katharine Jackson; editing by Jonathan Oatis)
