President Barack Obama said Monday he is considering providing lethal aid to Ukraine, but has not yet made a decision, expressing some hope that economic sanctions and diplomatic talks can succeed in convincing Russian leader Vladimir Putin to withdraw from the country.
In a joint White House press conference with German chancellor Angela Merkel, Obama said he’s asked his team for alternatives to helping the Ukrainian government if a German-French diplomatic drive to end the worst bloodshed in five months should fail.
Merkel opposes arming the government, and Obama said he agrees with her that “the prospect of a military solution to this problem has always been low” -- given an “extraordinarily powerful” Russian military.
But he called the possibility of lethal weapons part of an “ongoing process” to find a way to resolve the ongoing fighting.
“It's not based on the idea that Ukraine could defeat a Russian army that was determined,” he said. “It is rather to see whether or not there are additional things we can do to help Ukraine bolster its defenses in the face of separatist aggression.”
He said U.S. unity with the Europeans is critical, adding that “in the face of this aggression and these bad decisions, we can’t simply try to talk (Putin and Russia) out of it, we have to show them the world is unified at imposing a cost.”
More than 5,300 people have died and tens of thousands displaced since April, according to United Nations data, when fighting erupted as pro-Russia separatists declared independence for the eastern regions of Lugansk and Donetsk following Russia’s seizure of Crimea.
Still, neither he nor Merkel expressed much optimism that the latest talks will work, with Obama noting that Russia and the separatists it supports in Ukraine, have “violated just about every commitment” they made in a previous agreement.
Obama sidestepped a question of whether he supports Democrats boycotting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to Congress next month. But he pointedly noted that Merkel would not have asked for a White House appearance so near an upcoming election.
The White House has said it will not meet with Netayahu when he visits because his visit is just two weeks before his election.
Obama is facing increasing pressure from Republicans on Capitol Hill to send arms to the Ukrainians battling Russian insurgents. Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal -- a potential contender for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination -- on Monday added his voice to the chorus, endorsing more assistance to the Ukrainians, including arms.
Hours before Obama met with Merkel, Jindal at a Christian Science Monitor breakfast charged that Obama’s cautionary approach has emboldened Putin and that the U.S. needs to alter the Russian leader’s “calculus” by providing arms to Ukrainian government troops.
“We know that many of his actions are based on what he views as a White House leading from behind,” Jindal said of Putin. “The reality is our enemies today don't fear us, our allies don't consistently trust us.”
Jindal called German peace talks hopeful, but said “the reality is the last agreements haven’t been respected by the separatists or the Russians.”
He said he’d arm the Ukrainians even over Merkel’s objections, calling it “long past time to do that.”
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