Republican Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio ripped into the Biden administration for tunnel vision in terms of national security.
In a Thursday post on X, Vance lashed out after learning the administration was putting Ukraine at the front of the line for all new Patriot missile deliveries.
“At this point we are actively endangering our national security by focusing on Ukraine to the exclusion of other priorities. A slow running disaster from the Biden admin,” he said.
At this point we are actively endangering our national security by focusing on Ukraine to the exclusion of other priorities.
A slow running disaster from the Biden admin. https://t.co/9l0DQ85xuG
— J.D. Vance (@JDVance1) June 20, 2024
White House spokesman John Kirby said Thursday that the administration made a “difficult but necessary decision” as Ukraine’s infrastructure takes a pounding from Russia, according to The New York Times.
“The broader message here to Russia is clear,” Kirby said. “If you think you’re going to be able to outlast Ukraine, and if you think you’re going to be able to outlast those of us who are supporting Ukraine, you’re just flat-out wrong.”
He said National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems also would be prioritized for Ukraine, according to The Washington Post.
Kirby said neither Taiwan nor Israel would be impacted by the policy shift.
Last week, President Joe Biden said that other nations agreed to send Patriot missiles and other air defense assets to Ukraine and that other countries would need to wait because “everything we have is going to go to Ukraine until their needs are met, according to the Financial Times, which first reported the change in policy.
Biden said the change in prioritizing deliveries would come “relatively quickly.”
The Financial Times reported that Romania would donate a Patriot system to Ukraine, while Spain and Greece have not done so. Poland has said its Patriot batteries are already guarding Ukraine’s supply lifeline.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said his nation needs 25 Patriot systems of six to eight batteries per site.
Since then, he and Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba have said a minimum need is seven systems; Ukraine currently has four.
Ukraine faces a power crisis because Russia has either knocked out or captured about half of the facilities producing Ukraine’s power.
“Addressing the ammunition shortfalls and coverage gaps in Ukraine’s air defense is essential for the country to defend critical infrastructure, and no less important than stabilizing the front line,” said Michael Kofman, a senior fellow in the Russia and Eurasia Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
“Russian strikes have significantly damaged Ukraine’s non-nuclear power generation capacity, and Russian drones are increasingly able to target Ukrainian positions behind the front lines because of a lack of air defense coverage,” he said.
Exactly right!!!!
Senator @JDVance1: “If you want your kid to go and fight in some stupid globalist war, vote for Joe Biden, but if you want to send American Marines and soldiers to fight only when we have to, vote for Donald Trump.” pic.twitter.com/jgu9mOviZD
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) June 18, 2024
Vance has been reported to be on the short list of possible running mates for presumptive GOP presidential nominee and former President Donald Trump.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
