Bipartisan congressional delegation members who visit Kyiv said on Saturday that the Pentagon should deploy U.S. military advisers to Ukraine.
Lawmakers argued that the military advisers will only help keep better tabs on the weapons, coordinate the billions of dollars of arms that have been flowing into the country and not fight on front lines.
“I think we should do more,” Rep. Michael Waltz, R-Fla., the first Green Beret elected to Congress said in an official statement following his meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
“That said. It should come with appropriate safeguards, with appropriate oversight and the only way we can get that oversight is to actually have some advisors in Ukraine helping their military with the planning and logistics.” Waltz added.
Waltz also stated that this move may include sending US military personnel to Ukraine.
“It could be contracted, it could be civilian, but it could be military as well,” Waltz claimed.
On Saturday, Rep. Mikie Sherrill, D-N.J., also traveled to Ukraine as part of the delegation. Following her trip to the country, she expressed her support for a larger American presence in Ukraine as well.
“It would be good to have a logistics officer here to make sure that we understand and track the weaponry that we’re sending,” Sherrill claimed.
According to both lawmakers, the military advisers would “help beef up the presence in the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv and assist in other areas,” as per Fox News.
“I don’t think anybody is advocating for any [American] military on the front line, but helping with logistics, planning those operations, integrating the intelligence is incredibly important right now,” Waltz argued.
“The Ukrainians are doing a very good job. But they even said they would like to pass on the information about how they’re tracking [weapons] but they need someone to pass that on to.” Sherrill added.
On Saturday, Russia reportedly launched a missile strike on Odesa, which is Ukraine’s largest port. The incident reportedly took place less than 24 hours after both countries separately signed a U.N.-brokered agreement in Turkey on Friday.
“This is critical for world food supplies and the fact that just a day after this negotiation, Russia in bad faith would then do exactly what they had just agreed not to do. The day after is really shocking and quite frankly, quite depressing.” Sherrill said.
