Source: United States Senator for Oklahoma James Inhofe
U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, made the following statement on the latest in Ukraine:
“As the Ukrainian military bravely pushes back against Putin’s unprovoked, unwarranted aggression, I continue to pray for the safety of the Ukrainian people and stand strongly with Ukraine’s right to defend its territorial sovereignty. I also call on President Putin to walk back his threats to go nuclear and to end this war – for which he is solely responsible. We have now witnessed the lengths he is willing to go to get what he wants: apartment buildings hit by missiles, civilians indiscriminately killed, Ukrainians taking to subway tunnels as makeshift bomb shelters, and desperate mothers with small children fleeing major cities in the bitter cold of Ukrainian winter.
“In recent days, the United States and our allies have imposed severe penalties on Russia through sanctions, sent critical defensive aid directly to Ukraine, and bolstered our defensive posture along the eastern flank through key NATO troop movements. While I wish the administration had done more sooner to prevent this invasion from happening, I’m relieved we are taking these crucial steps to protect our interests. Now that the invasion has begun, we can no longer afford to drag our feet in taking action to support Ukraine’s ability to defend itself, bolster NATO’s eastern flank, and deter Putin from continuing his reckless affront to the free world.
“In the coming days, we need to be clear eyed that our adversaries, like the Chinese Communist Party, are taking notes on how the United States and our allies and partners are responding to this crisis. In turn, we also need to pay attention to how these adversaries are responding to Russia’s escalating invasion, especially after China joined Russia in complaining about sovereign nations’ rights to pursue NATO membership.
“We should ask ourselves, and President Xi, why is China not joining the vast majority of the world in condemning Putin’s violation of Ukraine’s territorial sovereignty? Could it be because they have designs to conduct a similar invasion of Taiwan in the near future?
“They are seeing that the Biden administration will try first to appease our adversaries, and they are scoffing at this administration’s weak diplomatic efforts to deter aggression, not just from Russia but Iran and other rogue states. And for months, they have seen that President Biden isn’t serious about investing in our military or supporting the Pacific Deterrence Initiative.
“In fact, rather than joining the rest of the world’s outrage at Putin’s breach of international norms, the Chinese Community Party has parroted Russia’s false talking points that the U.S. has been the aggressor in Eastern Europe. According to a New York Times report, the CCP also took directly to the Kremlin vital intelligence we shared with them in an effort to deter this war and then accused us of sowing discord.”