In his role as the Chairman of the powerful House Armed Services Committee, Congressman Mike Rogers led a Congressional Delegation (CODEL) to Romania and Poland to conduct oversight of the U.S. aid being sent to Ukraine.
U.S. Reps. John Garamendi (D-California), Donald Norcross (D-New Jersey), Lisa McClain (R-Michigan), Andrew Clyde (R-Georgia), Nicole Malliotakis (R-New York), Mark Alford (R-Missouri), and Chairman Rogers released a statement following their trip.
“The American people have every right to know that U.S. military equipment donated to Ukraine is being used for its intended purpose – Ukraine’s fight for national survival,” Rogers et al. said. “As a bipartisan Congressional delegation, we traveled to Poland and Romania to conduct oversight of this process. We came away with a clear understanding of the various safeguards the U.S. government, in partnership with the Ukrainians and other nations, have put in place to ensure each article is accounted for and tracked to the frontline of the war.”
“We traveled to the International Donation Collection Center in Poland to see firsthand the accounting and tracking practices which provide accurate counts of shipments into Ukraine,” the congressional members continued. “While there, we also met with General [Antonio] Aguto and the Department of Defense’s Security Assistance Group Ukraine, who provided us with a comprehensive briefing which detailed how the U.S. tracks our donations directly to the frontline. We left that briefing confident in our ability to track U.S. equipment from the moment it leaves our possession and makes it into the hands of Ukrainian warfighters.”
“We also relayed the concerns of Americans with the following message: should we confirm that any defense articles are siphoned off, diverted, or missing the flow of U.S. equipment would cease to be tenable,” Rogers and the group continued. “Our job of oversight is not done, and we will continue to monitor U.S. equipment flowing into Ukraine.”
There have been some unsubstantiated reports that some of the first-world weaponry the United States and its allies have sent to Ukraine has found its way to international black markets arms dealers.
On Sunday, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said that the U.S. has no timeline for the end of American support to Ukraine.
“We don’t know; we would like to see it end now,” Kirby said in an interview on “Fox News Sunday.” “As [President Biden] has said … we’re going to support Ukraine for as long as it takes, and he means that. As long as it takes.”
The U.S. has sent $110 million to Ukraine, including 155 mm Paladin self-propelled howitzers, Stryker armored vehicles, Bradley infantry fighting vehicles, HMARS multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS), and even M1 Abrams main battle tanks.
Congressman Michael McCaul (R-Texas), who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Committee, called for sending Ukraine F16 fighter jets.
“We need to throw/ everything we can into this fight so that they can win, and [Volodymyr] Zelenskyy is going to tell us that soon, as well,” McCaul said. “He had a speech at the conference saying the same thing. And I think the momentum is building for this to happen.”
“I hope so,” McCaul said when asked if the U.S. would send Ukraine the fighter jets.
President Joe Biden will also travel to Poland to meet with allies on the Ukraine situation. Kirby said that Biden has no plans to personally enter Ukraine.
“We obviously are maintaining a high degree of solidarity with the Ukrainian people,” Kirby said. “The United States leads the world in terms of contributions, whether it’s humanitarian assistance or military weapons to Ukraine, and we’re going to continue to use our convening power, to marshall the world, to galvanize support for Ukraine, but there are no plans for the president to enter Ukraine on this trip,”
On Sunday U.S, Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned that China is considering supplying weaponry to aid Russia in its war in Ukraine.
Mike Rogers is in his eleventh term representing Alabama’s Third Congressional District.
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