The Republican members of the Senate Intelligence Committee are pressing the Biden administration to step up its information-sharing with Ukraine following Russia’s invasion in late February, which has cost thousands of lives and triggered Europe’s largest refugee crisis since World War II.
Senator Marco Rubio of Florida and his GOP colleagues sent a letter Monday to Director of National Intelligence Avril N. Haines underscoring the need to share more U.S. intelligence with Ukraine’s forces on Russia’s plans and resources in the seven-week war.
“We remain deeply concerned that not enough is being done to share critical intelligence that would assist the Ukrainians as Russian forces move to secure territory in the southern and eastern parts of the country,” the senators wrote.
Senator Rubio was joined in the letter by Sens. Richard Burr of North Carolina; James E. Risch of Idaho; Susan Collins of Maine; Roy Blunt of Missouri; Tom Cotton of Arkansas, John Cornyn of Texas and Ben Sasse of Nebraska.
“We urge you to ensure that our intelligence agencies proactively share intelligence with the Ukrainians to help them protect, defend and retake every inch of Ukraine’s sovereign territory — which includes Crimea and the Donbas,” the senators wrote.
On Tuesday, Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks said the administration has been providing intelligence support to Ukraine, saying it had been “vital” to the Ukrainians’ success on the battlefield in holding back the larger and better-armed Russian forces.
“They’ve been very clear about that, publicly, as well,” she said during a briefing to the Washington, D.C.-based Defense Writers Group. “We will continue to look at the types of capabilities that the Ukrainians are asking for.”
