On Friday’s “CNN Newsroom” broadcast, Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.), the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, said the Russian economy is “doing well” because China and India are buying Russian oil and delays in supplies to Ukraine are hurting the country, but President Joe Biden also needs to ease restrictions on Russian weapons use.
“It’s frightening in that we’re now seeing the effects of the unjustified delay by Congress, which held up for six months providing Ukraine with the weapons it needs to win this war. And of course, weapons don’t magically appear on Ukrainian battlefields overnight. So I’m pleased that the chairman finally made the right decision and got $60 billion in aid, but we’re now in a period of massive aid arriving that’s going to do nothing for Ukrainians on the front lines. Meanwhile, Russia has learned to some extent from its disastrous early mistakes and is improving,” Himes said.
He continued, “China and India continue to buy Ukrainian energy. So Ukraine’s economy is doing well. So what’s the answer? The answer is to make sure we don’t have another gap in aid to Ukraine. You know, Jim, I’m part of a group of senators who have been calling on the White House to lift some of the restrictions on the use of U.S. weapons. I understand that the president really needs to consider the possibility of what Russia might do if they really lost, but the thing is, Russia hasn’t actually lost, so that’s not an issue right now. So I think we need to be more aggressive both in what we supply and in the rules that we impose on the use of the weapons that we send to Ukraine.”
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