Lindsey Graham calls for US to label Russia a “State Sponsor of Terrorism” and send F-16s to Ukraine.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) is pushing the Biden administration to declare Russia a “state sponsor of terrorism” and to supply F-16 fighter jets to the Ukrainian military in the Russia-Ukraine war. This call for a significant escalation in U.S. military support to Ukraine comes in the wake of Vice President Kamala Harris’s declaration that Putin’s Russia has committed “crimes against humanity” in Ukraine. Graham expressed his views on ABC’s “This Week” program on Sunday, Feb. 19, from Munich, where the annual Munich Security Conference was taking place. He further urged the administration to “start training Ukrainian pilots on the F-16 now.” U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield stated that the decision regarding sending fighters to Ukraine is still pending, and President Joe Biden has said “no” when asked if he would consider supplying F-16 warplanes to Ukraine. However, The New York Times reported correspondences from U.S. officials indicating that sending F-16s was not out of the question. To date, the U.S. has committed to delivering one Patriot battery, Bradley Fighting Vehicles, and 31 M1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine. A bipartisan group of U.S. House Representatives also petitioned Biden to send F-16 warplanes to Ukraine in a letter. On the issue of labeling Russia a “state sponsor of terrorism,” Graham and Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) introduced a bill in the upper chamber last September. Although the Biden administration has shown reluctance to proceed with this designation, the European Union recognized Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism in November 2022. U.S. lawmakers, including Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), have voiced concerns that the ever-increasing U.S. military aid to Ukraine is taking a toll on the nation’s ability to aid Taiwan, a self-ruled Chinese liberal democracy, from aggression by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Hawley expressed his views at the Heritage Foundation in February, stating that “when we pour our military power into Ukraine, that decision comes at a cost.”