Pompeo: US must stand with Ukraine ‘in its existential fight for national survival’

Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (R) said Tuesday the U.S. must stand with Ukraine in its war against Russia. 

“The United States must stand with Ukraine in its existential fight for national survival,” Pompeo said in a statement. The former secretary of State also argued the outcome of the Russia-Ukraine war would “have a direct impact on US national security” and that “the war would be felt well beyond Ukraine’s borders,” should Russia win.

Pompeo’s statement comes as debates about funding for Ukraine in Congress ramp up. President Biden announced earlier this month he would ask Congress for more than $100 billion in a supplemental funding request. Part of the request would carve out funds for aid to Ukraine and Israel, amid their respective conflicts with neighboring nations and militant groups. 

“Hamas and Putin represent different threats, but they share this in common: They both want to annihilate a neighboring democracy,” Biden said in the Oval Office speech. 

Biden faces an uphill battle getting the funding request through Congress, especially with newly elected Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.). He’s recently indicated he wants to consider aid packages for Ukraine and Israel separately and made a $14.3 billion Israel-only aid package one of the first pieces of legislation considered under his Speakership.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), however, has said he would agree with a strategy that ties Ukraine and Israel military aid together for Congress’s consideration.

“This is a moment for swift and decisive action to prevent further loss of life, and to impose real consequences on the tyrants who have terrorized the people of Ukraine and of Israel,” McConnell said Monday while introducing Oksana Markarova, the Ukrainian ambassador to the U.S., at an event at the University of Louisville.