01/03/2022
Russian forces are encircling Kyiv and the U.S. and its allies will be racing against the clock to get humanitarian aid and weapons into the country, members of Congress said Monday following briefings on Ukraine.
"The ability to keep supply lines running to Ukraine remains alive, but Russia will try to encircle and cut off Kiev in the next several weeks," tweeted Sen. Chris Murphy (D., Conn.) "The fight for Kiev will be long and bloody and Ukrainians are rapidly preparing for street to street combat."
Mr. Murphy and other senators were briefed on Ukraine developments by Biden administration officials.
They told lawmakers that Ukrainians have weeks—not months—to mount a successful pushback against Russian advances and it might need to involve guerilla warfare, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Democrats have said they are looking at including a Ukraine assistance package and Covid-19 relief in the annual government spending bill by March 11, when a current spending law expires.
Sen. Marco Rubio (R., Fla.), the top Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said after the briefing that March 11 could be too late.
"If you just watch how they've positioned the troops ... [Mr. Putin] is progressing towards laying siege, like a medieval siege of Kyiv, at which point you're going to have millions of starving people in the city," Mr. Rubio said.
"And my view is that we should try to get the assistance as quickly as possible. We shouldn't wait till the last second to tie it up in a normal course of business," he said.
The challenge then becomes how to get aid to the Ukrainians.
"Even if you provide the assistance, how do you get it to them? If Western Ukraine, if west of Kyiv is shut off, surrounded, how do you deliver logistical support into a city like that? How do you deliver logistical support to the east of that city?" Mr. Rubio said.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.) called for a "Berlin airlift type of support" for the Ukrainian economy and to deliver weapons into the country. After WWII ended, the U.S. and U.K. airlifted supplies to Berlin from Allied air bases in western Germany.
"Do not be fooled here. Ukrainians have fought bravely. They're freedom fighters of the 21st century. But the Russian military capability that is unused is pretty massive," Mr. Graham said.
He said he expects "a scorched earth policy" to unfold in the coming days.
"I expect wholesale slaughter of Ukrainian citizens by the Russian military...The worst is yet to come militarily," he said.
