WASHINGTON — St. Louis area politicians agreed the US should send more aid to Ukraine following President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's address to Congress Wednesday morning, but how much is still under debate.
"When it comes to the planes from Poland, I'll tell you what, I think we have overplayed that hand. I don't think that those 20 planes are going to make a difference in the war," Illinois Senator Dick Durbin, a Democrat, said of one of the MiG-29 fighter jets previously under consideration for movement to Ukraine.
"I don't understand why you would not give Ukraine the MiGs. They know how to fly them, they are trained on those," Missouri Republican Senator Josh Hawley said. "As for a no-fly zone, let the Ukrainians set up their own no-fly zone by giving them fighter planes."
Zelenskyy's biggest requests center in the airspace over Ukraine, telling the joint session of Congress "being the leader of the world means to be the leader of peace."
Hours after the address, President Joe Biden has his own announcement: the US will send another $800M in military aid, including anti-aircraft and anti-armor systems and thousands of small arms and drones.
But assistance with the MiG jets and a no-fly zone were not a part of the deal.
Politicians from both sides of the aisle — and both sides of the Mississippi River — worry US involvement in denying Russian access to airspace would lead to escalation including the possibility of direct conflict with NATO countries or the use of chemical weapons.
"Anytime you put American pilots in American planes in the sky with Russian pilots and planes in the sky, you are really taking a chance that we may engage in combat that I don't think we are prepared to," Missouri Sen. Roy Blunt, a Republican, said.