A group of politicians from the US Senate Intelligence Committee has called on President Joe Biden to ensure that Washington shares as much intelligence as possible with Ukraine, amidst fears that Russia is planning an invasion in the near future.
In a bipartisan statement, the committee called on the White House to ensure that the intelligence committee is arming Kiev with every piece of valuable information.
“Vladimir Putin is threatening the freedom and security of the Ukrainian people, and they have shown their eagerness to take action to defend their sovereignty, freedom, and democratically elected government,” the senators wrote in a letter to Biden. “To this end, we request that the United States share intelligence with Ukraine to the fullest extent possible. Russia is the aggressor, and we need to arm Ukraine with critical information needed to defend their country.”
According to the senators, “Russia’s threats to Ukraine are a threat to democracies around the world,” and therefore sharing information with Kiev is in the interests of US national security.
The letter was signed by 16 bipartisan senators, led by Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner and Vice Chairman Mark Rubio.
The statement comes as Russia stands accused of placing more than 100,000 soldiers near the border, with some believing this is a sign of an impending military incursion. This claim has been repeatedly denied by the Kremlin, and it has also been played down by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
However, in the US, concerns have been raised that Ukraine is not taking the danger seriously. Last month, following a phone call between Biden and Zelensky, CNN reported that the discussions between the two “did not go well,” with the presidents disagreeing over the “risk levels” of a Russian attack.