Former GOP rep says US should give Ukraine ‘as much weaponry as we can’

Former Rep. Will Hurd (R-Texas) on Sunday said the U.S. should give Ukraine “as much weaponry as we can,” as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is now in its second month.

Asked during an appearance on CBS’s “Face the Nation” what his experience working for the CIA tells him about the current situation in Ukraine, Hurd said the U.S. needs to be doing more. Pressed by guest moderator John Dickerson on what more America should be doing, Hurd pointed to weapons.

“I think we should give them as much weaponry as we can. What we don’t know, in the earlier segment you talked about these 20 MiGs, gonna be enough to do anything, well everybody underestimated the Ukrainians before this happened, who knows what they’re going to be able to do with those kinds of tools,” Hurd said. “And we have to be prepared to help them prevent significant loss of life.”

Hurd’s comments come after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday urged NATO allies to provide planes and tanks to Kyiv to help the country defend itself from the Russian invasion.

The Pentagon earlier this month rejected a proposal from Poland to transfer MiG-29 fighter jets to a U.S. air base in Germany, calling the plan not “tenable.” Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby said the plan “raises serious concerns for the entire NATO alliance.”