Bipartisan lawmakers ramp up calls on Biden to give Ukraine weapons, fighter jets

The bipartisan push underscores the growing hawkishness among many leaders on Capitol Hill, who have been urging Biden to do more to help Ukraine defend itself against Russian attacks as the war rages into its third week.

“[Russian President] Vladimir Putin and the Russians seem to be saying everything is escalatory. And yet they’re escalating every single day by coming into Ukraine with these weapons,” Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

“This is an illegal — this is a brutal — totally unprovoked attack,” he added, emphasizing the horrors of civilian targets hit. “So, as they escalate, what the Ukrainian people are asking for is just the ability to defend themselves.”

Portman was part of a four-person bipartisan delegation of senators who traveled to Poland on Sunday who called on the White House to send air assistance to Ukraine, arguing that the country increasingly needs help to push back Russian forces.