Why Are Republicans Playing Politics With Ukraine? [View all]

[Nevilledog]

https://www.thedailybeast.com/why-are-republicans-playing-politics-with-ukraine

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https://archive.ph/dKDGz

No one on Capitol Hill knows exactly when sending aid to Ukraine became such a political issue.

It didn’t really start as one.

In May 2022, three months after Russia began its brutal invasion, solid bipartisan majorities in Congress voted to approve a $40 billion aid package to Ukraine. Many Republicans who went on to adamantly oppose sending weapons to Ukraine spent the start of the war positively gushing about the heroism of President Volodymyr Zelensky and his Ukrainian citizens.

Now, 15 months and $113 billion in congressionally approved aid later, a growing MAGA faction is expressing skepticism—outright hostility, really—over continued support for Ukraine, even as the besieged country demonstrably weakens the military of one of the United States’ most hostile adversaries.

Over the course of more than 30 interviews with members of Congress, The Daily Beast set out to trace exactly how and why providing aid to Ukraine became such a controversial endeavor among Republicans.

*snip*