Former GOP Rep. Will Hurd says the US should give Ukraine 'as much weaponry as we can'
- Former Rep. Hurd on CBS News said the US should provide Ukraine with "as much weaponry as we can."
- "When it comes to our foreign policy, we want our friends to love us and our adversaries to fear us," he said.
Former Republican Rep. Will Hurd of Texas on Sunday said the United States should provide Ukraine with "as much weaponry as we can" as they continue to fight back against Russian forces that have launched devastating attacks in their country.
During an appearance on CBS's "Face the Nation," the former CIA undercover officer was asked by guest host John Dickerson about how his intelligence background has informed him about the current state of the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
"When it comes to our foreign policy, we want our friends to love us and our adversaries to fear us," Hurd said. "When you use that as a metric on looking at what's happening in Ukraine, our allies, President [Volodymyr] Zelenskyy, is asking us to do more. Our adversaries, our enemies, [Russian President] Vladimir Putin, is launching cruise missiles into the western part of Ukraine because he's not afraid that we're going to respond."
He continued: "We need to be doing more. I think we can help prevent an incredible loss of life."
When asked by Dickerson about how the United States could be more helpful, Hurd said that the government should provide Ukraine with more weapons. The issue of whether to transfer MiG-29 fighter jets from Western allies to Ukraine has been an idea that has been praised by some US lawmakers, but it has not been implemented as official policy.
"I think we should give them as much weaponry as we can," he said. "What we don't know ... Is 20 MiGs going to be enough to do anything?"
He added: "Well, everybody underestimated the Ukrainians before this happened. Who knows what they're going to be able to do with those kinds of tools? And we have to be prepared to help them prevent significant loss of life."
Zelenskyy on Saturday asked that NATO allies send planes and tanks to aid Ukraine in their fight against Russian forces.
Earlier in March, the Pentagon rejected a plan from Poland to transfer MiG-29 fighter jets to the United States' Ramstein Air Base in Germany.
Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby said the proposal "raises serious concerns for the entire NATO alliance."