It will be worse than Afghanistan - Senator Graham calls for providing Ukraine with intelligence and weapons before ceasefire
U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham of the Republican Party has called for the resumption of aid to Ukraine. He believes that Ukraine should receive intelligence and weapons to protect itself until a ceasefire is reached.
The American lawmaker said this in an interview with Fox News, Censor.NET reports.
Graham expressed concern about the suspension of the supply of American weapons and intelligence to Ukraine after a dispute between Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Donald Trump in the White House.
"If we cut off Ukraine, it will be worse than Afghanistan (referring to the fall of the pro-Western government in Afghanistan in 2021 - ed. I don't think President Trump is willing to do that. Until we have a ceasefire, I would give Ukraine what it needs in terms of intelligence and weapons to defend itself," the U.S. lawmaker said.
He added that without providing Ukraine with the necessary weapons, peace talks would be meaningless.
"It is impossible to help resolve the conflict if we do not provide Ukraine with intelligence and resources for defense while the fighting continues. I hope that next week we will get a clear vision from Ukraine on how the war should end and begin to work toward ending it," Graham said.
Suspension of US aid
On the morning of March 4, it became known that US President Donald Trump had ordered the suspension of all US military aid to Ukraine in order to force Kyiv to demonstrate a "good faith commitment" to peace.
One U.S. official told CNN that the consequences of the suspension of U.S. military aid will be felt in some time. Perhaps a few days or weeks. However, as soon as the stockpiles of weapons and armaments begin to run out, the country will face serious consequences.
According to journalist Ostap Yarysh, the US decision to suspend assistance to Ukraine will primarily affect the supply of missiles to air defense and ammunition for HIMARS and artillery.
Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tahkna emphasized that the US decision to temporarily suspend military aid to Ukraine means that Europe must help Ukraine more and faster than before to fill the gap.
The Economist article says that the US decision to suspend aid to Ukraine will lead to more casualties and destruction. Critical elements, the newspaper writes, are weapons, their repair, air defense missiles, the Starlink system, and, perhaps most importantly, intelligence sharing.
Chief National Security Advisor to Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda, Marius Česnulevičius, said that Washington's decision to suspend military aid to Ukraine was not a surprise. However, Europe is preparing a response.
Subsequently, The Economist wrote that there is currently no official order from Donald Trump to suspend military aid to Ukraine.
The United States has completely stopped sharing all intelligence information with Ukraine, including that which could be used to strike Russian troops in the occupied Ukrainian territories, Sky News reported.
CIA Director John Ratcliffe confirmed that the United States has suspended arms sales and intelligence sharing with Ukraine.
