GOP senators fear ‘dismemberment’ of Ukraine in new siege

Two hawkish Republican senators on Tuesday blasted President Obama and foreign leaders for not taking a tougher stance on Ukraine, amid reports the latest cease-fire is unraveling.

“The chancellor of Germany and the president of France, with the support of the president of the United States, are legitimizing the dismemberment of a sovereign nation in Europe for the first time in seven decades,” Sens. John McCain (Ariz.) and Lindsey Graham (S.C.) said in a joint statement.

{mosads}“It is inexcusable to adhere to a failed cease-fire agreement as Russia and its Ukrainian proxies escalate their uncompromising siege” of Debaltseve, a city in eastern Ukraine, the lawmakers said.

Pro-Russian separatists and government forces have reportedly been engaged in a pitched battle in Debaltseve, which is located near a railway hub.

Last week, Ukraine and Russia agreed to a cease-fire that would have created a demilitarized zone along the front, but the rebels said they would not recognize the truce to include Debaltseve.

McCain, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, has spearheaded a bipartisan effort to force the Obama administration to provide lethal weapons to Kiev, a move the president has resisted.

“Western leaders say there is no military solution to the conflict in Ukraine. [Russian President] Vladimir Putin clearly does not think so,” said McCain and Graham. 

“He continues his aggression, and in the absence of greater Western support for Ukrainian forces, a Russian-imposed military solution is exactly what will continue to unfold in Ukraine, just as it has in parts of Georgia and Moldova.”

The senators noted that more than 5,000 Ukrainians have been killed in the monthslong conflict between Kiev and Moscow and argued “it is long past time to provide defensive weapons to Ukraine and to impose additional sanctions and costs that can change Putin’s behavior,” including the removal of Russia from the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication system.

The pair urged Obama to act on their suggestions “immediately, rather than hide behind a failed attempt to negotiate with an aggressor when conditions on the ground render diplomacy ineffective.”