On Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky gave a speech via video to a joint session of Congress. Zelensky thanked the United States for its support but also reiterated that his country needs more assistance. The Ukrainian president once again asked for air defense systems and fighters.
One Alabama congressman who was in attendance for the speech agreed with Zelensky. During an appearance on WVNN’s “The Yaffee Program,” U.S. Rep. Jerry Carl (R-Mobile) said he supported finding a way to send Ukraine fighter jets.
“What’s the difference between a MiG and a Javelin?” he asked. “I mean, a weapon’s a weapon. If we’re going to supply them with weapons that’s fine.”
Carl said there would be bipartisan support to get more fighters to Ukraine soon.
“To get him those additional planes I think you’re going to see the Democrats and Republicans push for us to get Poland to do that,” he said, “whether it comes through us or through Poland, and we’ll replace them, of course, with an F-16, so I think you’re going to see the Democrats and Republicans pushing the President to go along with that portion of his request.”
While the Alabama congressman does support sending more military aid to Ukraine, he did caution that a no-fly zone would be going too far because “it’s impossible to comprehend that we could or would do that.”
“The no-fly zone, that’s a tough one,” he lamented. “I mean, that is a true act of war when you start shooting down aircraft, you know, from another nation.”
Carl praised the fighting spirit of the Ukrainian people and argued that Putin’s power was diminishing as a result of this war.
“I think the [Russian] oligarchs are going to control a lot of what’s going on with Putin,” he argued. “I mean, you go to bed you’re worth two billion and you wake up the next day you’re only worth one billion, I mean that speaks volumes to those wealthy people, so they’ll get enough of losing money and they’ll either get [Putin] replaced, or replace him any way that they need to.”
The congressman concluded that he doesn’t see how Russia ultimately wins this war.
“Putin’s got a time clock on him, and I don’t know what the end game is for him,” he advised. “Even if he does take the country of Ukraine over and manages to keep NATO out of it, he’s still got to deal with the inner cities and that’s where he’s really going to get beat.”
Michael Yaffee is a contributing writer to Yellowhammer News and hosts “The Yaffee Program” Weekdays 9-11am on WVNN. You can follow him on Twitter @Yaffee
