Ukraine

Floor Speech

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Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, here on the floor yesterday, I called on America's European allies, including Germany, to do more to equip Ukraine with long-requested tanks, not just to resist Russian aggression but to defeat it.

I have consistently called on the Biden administration to be more proactive and to lead by example in delivering lethal aid, like the long-range weapons, with a greater sense of urgency.

I was happy to learn yesterday and this morning that, indeed, both the White House and their counterparts in Germany are finally moving forward with these overdue steps.

Germany has announced it will supply Ukraine with an initial 14 Leopard 2 tanks, and the Biden administration is expected to send at least 30 M1 Abrams tanks as well. Good news.

Now that Berlin has taken this step, I hope and expect that Germany and other European countries with tanks in their inventory will move expeditiously to send them to Ukraine.

Modern main battle tanks will provide highly maneuverable armored firepower that will help Ukraine liberate territory and keep pressure on the Russian aggressors, but, as I have said repeatedly, time is of the essence.

Of course, as we rush these long-overdue capabilities to Ukraine, the West's work is far from over. These drawdowns of Western arsenals must also prompt serious work to expand the capacity of our defense industrial base. The Biden administration's efforts on this front are overdue but important, and I hope more of our allies will follow through by moving quickly to put critical munitions and weapons systems under contract and expanding each of their industrial capacities.

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