President Biden on Friday called again for Congress to approve more spending on the war in Ukraine, claiming that if Russian President Vladimir Putin is successful in its war, it could risk pulling the US into a direct confrontation with Russia.
Biden made the comments in a statement on a Russian attack on Ukraine that was said to be the largest of the war. According to Ukrainian authorities, Russia fired over 150 missiles and drones across the country and killed 31 people.
Biden said Ukraine was able to intercept some missiles with US-provided air defenses and added that “unless Congress takes urgent action in the new year, we will not be able to continue sending the weapons and vital air defense systems Ukraine needs to protect its people.”
The president claimed that the stakes of the war extend beyond Ukraine to the US’s European NATO allies. “When dictators and autocrats are allowed to run roughshod in Europe, the risk rises that the United States gets pulled in directly,” he said.