The senior U.S. senator from Kansas says the nearly two weeks since the Russian invasion of Ukraine have been both discouraging and inspiring.
Sen. Jerry Moran (R-KS) joined KMAN Monday morning to discuss the latest developments and conversations regarding the fight in Eastern Europe. Moran says he was involved in a Saturday morning call with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, where the Ukrainian leader provided U.S. officials with a briefing on what has taken place in the days since Russian armed forces moved into the country on February 24.
“He had requests that he was asking of us,” Moran says. “Things that we could do more, but he also outlined just the facts which are terribly outnumbered military soldier-wise and the equipment differential is huge in favor of the Russians.”
Despite that, stories of Ukrainian resilience have proven a ray of optimism for Moran.
Moran says Russia has incurred significant consequences in the form of economic sanctions as a result of the assault, what Russian President Vladimir Putin is calling a ‘special military operation,’ and dozens of private companies are suspending services, sales and purchases to or from Russia.
Moran says he is unsure if the moves will alter Russia’s behavior, but says he’s not confident this will be the last invasion by Russia if Ukraine falls.
“So it’s important for the world in support of Ukraine [to]try to limit the incursion, the intrusion, this tragic and illegal thug kind of occurrence from one country to another,” says Moran. “It’s important for us to keep the screws turned tight and all the pressure on to try and dissuade Putin from taking other steps beyond Ukraine.”
Moran, though, stopped short of endorsing a no-fly zone (NFZ) in Ukraine airspace that Zelenskyy has called for adamantly. Putin has also indicated that such a move would be viewed as intervention by whatever nation makes the declaration, and that “it would not matter what members they are.”
“I am of the view that the pilots should be Ukrainian and that the airplanes can be Polish,” Moran says. “What is missing is a guarantee by the United States that we will back-fill the loss of those Polish aircraft to Poland.”
Sec. of State Antony Blinken was in Poland recently to discuss that possibility, says Moran, who notes that will be a focus of much work in Washington D.C. today.
“We will be doing everything we can to encourage that to happen, back up the Poles so that they can provide these Soviet-made MiGs that are capable of being piloted by Ukrainian pilots to Ukraine in hopes that we can make Ukraine safer.”
Moran touched on gasoline prices, which have seen increases nationally and locally amid the fighting in Ukraine. AAA as of Monday reports a national average of $4.01 per gallon of gas, while Kansas’ average was reported at $3.68 per gallon. Moran is one of numerous senators that have called for the Biden Administration to halt American imports of Russian oil, saying the US is ‘funding the Russians to attack a country we’re trying to protect […]
“What that means to me is not a release of oil from the […] strategic petroleum reserve, but ending the policies of the Biden Administration that are so adamantly opposed to fossil fuels,” says Moran. “Stories report that we’re now negotiating with Iran and Venezuela, not our friends or allies, to increase their production of oil to import to the United States while we refuse to do the things necessary to […] explore and produce more of our own.”
Moran also talked about recent suggestions of his to bolster Ft. Riley with a fifth brigade, a discussion he had at a recent meeting with Junction City business leaders. He says one area of focus currently is to improve and increase the amount of housing in order to lay the groundwork in the possibility of adding the additional boots on the ground in Kansas.
“We’ve had an additional brigade at Ft. Riley, the capacity is there,” he says. “We want to make sure the assets remain and that Ft. Riley is a place that, should a brigade arise, that Ft. Riley is its home.”
