Sen. Mitch McConnell praised President Donald Trump for walking back a pause on weapons shipments to Ukraine while chastising “isolationists and restrainers” in his orbit for moves that he said undermine U.S. credibility abroad.
The latest broadside from the former Senate GOP leader, who has emerged as a foil to Trump on Ukraine and other defense issues, came after Trump said Monday that aid would again flow to Kyiv after the Pentagon paused some weapons shipments. The Kentucky Republican dinged both the administration’s restrictions on aid and a military budget he has called insufficient.
“Today, the strategic incoherence of underfunding our military and restricting lethal assistance to partners like Ukraine is measured in the avoidable erosion of American credibility with allies and the mounting deaths of innocents,” McConnell said in a statement.
While Trump told reporters Monday that more aid would be coming, he didn’t provide specifics: “They have to be able to defend themselves. They’re getting hit very hard now. … We have to send more weapons, defensive weapons, primarily.”
McConnell avoided criticizing Trump, crediting the president with delivering weapons to Ukraine during his first term. But he argued Trump must brush off advisers who want to cut off U.S. involvement in its conflict with Russia.
That, he said, means going beyond supplying “defensive weapons” to the Ukrainian and sidelining “those at DoD who invoke munitions shortages to block aid while refusing to invest seriously in expanding munitions production.”
POLITICO first reported the Pentagon had opted to halt some weapons shipments to Ukraine, a move driven by defense policy chief Elbridge Colby over concerns that certain U.S. stockpiles were running low.
McConnell was the only Republican to oppose Colby’s confirmation, citing the vocal China hawk’s longtime advocacy for focusing U.S. military resources on the Pacific at the expense of other conflicts, including Ukraine’s. Though he didn’t name Colby, McConnell’s statement alluded to resistance to the AUKUS submarine pact between the U.S., U.K. and Australia, which Colby is now reviewing. Both the AUKUS review and the Ukraine pause blindsided some lawmakers and officials elsewhere in the administration.
“The self-indulgent policymaking of restrainers — from Ukraine to AUKUS — has so often required the President to clean up his staff’s messes,” McConnell said.
Another top Republican, House Armed Services Chair Mike Rogers of Alabama, argued Trump’s decision to resume military aid will make clear Russian President Vladimir Putin “must come to the negotiating table” to end the war with Ukraine.
“President Trump is right that now is not the time to pause U.S. military aid to support Ukraine’s defense,” he said in a statement.
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