Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said Sunday he would support the United States training Ukrainian forces overseas.
“Yes, I do support us training inside the country. The delay and weapons because of House inaction, we did lose momentum. But from the very beginning, the Biden administration, they did not impose pre-invasion sanctions to deter Putin. They didn’t give weapons to Ukraine early on to deter Putin. And now we got a chance to reset this war that they have the weapons,” Graham said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”
He also said that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wants the U.S. to go after Russia’s assets throughout the world and give them to his country.
“Here’s what he wanted most of all: for us to go after the Russian assets all over the world. Take the money from the sovereign wealth funds of Russia and give it to Ukraine. There’s $300 billion sitting in Europe, from Russia. And sovereign wealth assets that we should seize and give to Ukraine,” he said.
Graham continued to emphasize his support for Ukraine amid its ongoing war with Russia, which invaded the country more than two years ago.
“Either we’re going to help Ukraine or we’re not. It’s now time to give them the F-16s, let them fly the planes, long-range artillery to hit targets inside of Russia. Go after Putin’s assets wherever, all over the world. Go on the offensive. I think the summer Ukraine will regain military momentum,” he said.
President Biden met with Zelensky in Normandy, France, last week. He and other world leaders had gathered there to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the D-Day invasion. Biden apologized to Zelensky for the delay in the U.S.’s funding of the war against Russia.
“I apologize for the weeks of not knowing what’s going to pass in terms of funding because we had trouble getting the bill that we had to pass that had the money in it. Some of our very conservative members were holding it up. But we got it done finally,” Biden said.