GOP urge Biden to stop supporting Kiev over risk of US-Russia war
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The Republican party is calling on US President Joe Biden to revise his strategy on Ukraine due to the risk of direct war with Russia.
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Airmen with the 436th Aerial Port Squadron use a forklift to move 155 mm shells ultimately bound for Ukraine, April 29, 2022, at Dover Air Force Base, Delaware (AP)
US Republicans wrote a letter to US President Joe Biden asking him to end Washington's military support to Ukraine due to the risk it creates of a direct war breaking out with Russia.
"We are deeply concerned that the trajectory of US aid to the Ukrainian war effort threatens further escalation and lacks much-needed strategic clarity," the letter read.
"With every new package and every new weapon provided to Ukraine, the risk of direct conflict with Russia climbs," the GOP members stressed.
Former US President and top Republican candidate for the upcoming presidential election Donald Trump said in March that "every day this proxy battle in Ukraine continues, we risk global war."
Speaking in Davenport, Iowa, Trump confidently told his supporters that he is the only president that could effectively prevent World War III from happening.
"I am the only candidate who could make this promise. I will prevent World War III because I really believe you're going to have World War Three," he said.
Trump has made similar promises in the past that there would be "no dead people" in Ukraine or on the US being closer to a nuclear war as long as US President Joe Biden is in office.
Read more: "Get this crazy war ended now!": Trump
Furthermore, the officials explained that there were other ways, which they deemed more appropriate, in which the US can support the Ukrainian people, underlining that "unlimited arms supplies in support of an endless war is not one of them."
The Congress members that signed the letter, which numbered 19, explained that the promotion of negotiations between Russia and Ukraine poured in the best interest of both Kiev and Washington.
According to the text, it is only growing harder for the United States to deny Russian accusations about its involvement in the war in light of the massive amounts of weapons, systems, and equipment being given to Kiev.
Supporting Ukraine, a country notorious for its high corruption level, is irresponsible at a time when US citizens are suffering from inflation and the rise in public debt, the lawmakers noted.
The congressmen, moreover, said they were displeased with the erosion of their country's capabilities to respond to possible threats because of their support to Ukraine as Washington's "primary opponents", i.e., Russia and China, are growing closer and stronger in light of the Ukraine war.
The US Defense Department said earlier that the US has given Kiev more than $35.4 billion since the outbreak of the Ukraine war in February of last year.
Read next: NATO says aiding Ukraine cost $165Bln in military funding since 2022
Most of the Republican party has long been opposed to the US support for Ukraine as the country plunges itself into inflation while pumping money abroad.
Top Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis sharply divided Republicans who are determined to back Ukraine, saying in a statement in mid-March that protecting the Ukrainian borders was not a critical US interest, noting that policymakers should instead focus on domestic issues.
DeSantis distanced himself from Republicans who argue that the problem with Biden's Ukraine strategy is that it is insufficient. He made it clear that Biden is doing too much without a clear objective and taking actions that risk inciting conflict between the US and Russia.
"While the US has many vital national interests — securing our borders, addressing the crisis of readiness with our military, achieving energy security and independence, and checking the economic, cultural, and military power of the Chinese Communist Party — becoming further entangled in a territorial dispute between Ukraine and Russia is not one of them," DeSantis said.
