US Senator Chris Coons: Sending American Troops to Ukraine Would Be ‘Sacrificing Them’
© AP Photo / J. Scott Applewhite
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US Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) told Greta Van Susteren in an interview set to air on Sunday that, should Russia invade Ukraine, sending US troops to the country’s defense, “would simply be sacrificing them.”
“I would not support sending American troops into Ukraine in response to a Russian invasion, because frankly, I think we would simply be sacrificing them. I think the Russians would escalate dramatically,” Coons said.
The comments come as tensions between Russia, Ukraine, the United States, and its North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) allies have been exacerbated due to allegations that over 100,000 Russian troops have been amassed along the border between the two countries.
Coons explained his response to the hypothetical invasion.
“I do think that we should provide as much support as we possibly can from our NATO allies that are immediately adjacent to Ukraine,” he said.
Coons, a vocal political ally of US President Joe Biden, is working to create legislation that “would provide material support to Ukraine,” and believes Congress must act quickly to pass additional sanctions on Russia.
Coons came to Biden’s defense over comments that the latter made during a Wednesday news conference.
“President Biden was in no way giving Vladimir Putin a green light to invade or occupy Ukraine…. In conversations directly and in-person with Putin, he's made that clear that any Russian crossing of the Ukrainian border will be responded to massively and swiftly,” Coons said.
At the time, Biden said of the possibility of a Russian invasion of Ukraine that it “depends on what [Russian President Vladimir Putin] does as to what extent we’re going to be able to get total unity on the NATO front."
“I think what you’re going to see is that Russia will be held accountable if it invades, and it depends on what it does," Biden added during his conference. "It’s one thing if it’s a minor incursion and we end up having to fight about what to do and not to do.”
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Russian officials this week over the situation, with the Biden administration urging the use of diplomatic channels to ease the conflict.
Tensions stemming from alleged Russian aggression have been raging for months despite repeated remarks from Moscow that it has zero intention to cross into Ukraine. Russia has previously noted that it sees Western nations using said aggression claims as a pretext for NATO allies to bulk up their presence in the region, especially along Russia's borders.
