WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — US President Barack Obama will have ample bipartisan support for providing defensive weapons to Ukraine if the Ukrainian peace talks scheduled this week in Minsk do not succeed, US Senator Kelly Ayotte told Sputnik.
Ayotte, who attended the Munich Security Conference over the weekend, noted that she is “not optimistic” that the upcoming discussions between Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Francois Hollande and Russian President Vladimir Putin will be successful.
The leaders are expected to meet to address the worsening violence in Ukraine’s southeast provinces.
Members of the US House and Senate have passed legislation pressuring President Obama to send lethal military aid to Ukraine, but the Obama administration has not fulfilled the request. In a Monday press conference, Obama repeated that his administration was continuing to assess the option of providing military aid to Ukraine.
