{"id":1357342,"date":"2022-03-03T17:38:14","date_gmt":"2022-03-03T22:38:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1357342"},"modified":"2022-03-03T17:38:19","modified_gmt":"2022-03-03T22:38:19","slug":"exclusive-rep-mike-waltz-says-ukrainians-wanted-stinger-missiles-in-december-they-should-have-had-them-on-day-one","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/exclusive-rep-mike-waltz-says-ukrainians-wanted-stinger-missiles-in-december-they-should-have-had-them-on-day-one\/","title":{"rendered":"Exclusive &#8212; Rep. Mike Waltz Says Ukrainians Wanted Stinger Missiles in December: &#039;They Should Have Had Them on Day One&#039;"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">40<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fexclusive-rep-mike-waltz-says-ukrainians-wanted-stinger-missiles-in-december-they-should-have-had-them-on-day-one%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1357342&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p class=\"subheading\">Rep. Mike Waltz (R-FL) said stinger missiles from the United States did not start arriving in Ukraine until a week ago, when Russia invaded Ukraine, despite asking for them months ago.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe stingers didn\u2019t start arriving until about a week ago. They should have had them. They should have had them on day one. Those things should have been shooting up from Kharkiv, from Kyiv, from the border,\u201d he told Breitbart News in an exclusive interview on Wednesday.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"gmxrevmore\" class=\"H\"><\/figure>\n<p>Waltz said the Ukrainians he met with in December while in the country were \u201cincredibly frustrated\u201d that they were not receiving the air defense systems, as Russian troops were building up at the border.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Ukrainians that I met with were incredibly frustrated in December that they didn\u2019t, they weren\u2019t getting what they asked for,\u201d he said. \u201cHow much more effective would they be right now if they had more Javelins, more body armor, more stingers?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A CNN report <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2021\/11\/22\/politics\/us-considering-weaponry-ukraine\/index.html\">from November 23 said<\/a> some in the Biden administration were concerned that sending stingers would be seen by Russia as a major escalation.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B2\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<p>CNN reported on January 10 that the Biden administration had quietly authorized an additional $200 million in security assistance to Ukraine that consisted of small arms and ammunition, secure radios, medical equipment spare parts, and other equipment but no stingers.<\/p>\n<p>A source told CNN that it was \u201cnot a game-changer and would not be\u00a0enough to serve as a major impediment to a Russian invasion,\u201d and said the Ukrainians have made clear to the U.S. that they want more security assistance, beyond what the U.S. had already provided.<\/p>\n<p>Politico Nightly subsequently reported that the\u00a0U.S. military services \u201care wary of seeing their equipment shipped off to Eastern Europe.\u201d \u201cAfter all, replacing transferred Stinger missiles and other material takes time, thus leaving them with a temporary weapons gap,\u201d Politico reported on January 11.<\/p>\n<p>Waltz said he had questions over the Biden administration\u2019s most recent announcement of sending $350 million in military equipment to Ukraine.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhere did $350 million dollars come from? Why not $250 million? Why not $500 million? Why that number, was that a needs-based assessment? If you look at the breakdown, it\u2019s really not enough. It\u2019s about enough to equip a battalion,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B3\" class=\"a8d adSo\"><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t think what we\u2019re providing is what the Ukrainians need. It\u2019s nowhere near what they need.\u00a0Even if you start adding up the other allied contributions. It\u2019s nowhere near,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>He said he has been personally reassured by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin that the latest tranche of\u00a0aid is \u201carriving in Ukrainian\u2019s hands right now.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B2\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<p>Waltz, who received a briefing from a senior defense official along with other lawmakers on Wednesday, said the war in Ukraine is already turning into an insurgency.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe main thing you need is a demonstrated will to fight and [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelensky has galvanized his population, and the Russians have made a strategic mistake in not being able to shut down the commercial internet. Every day that [Zelensky] is on television, the Europeans have been shamed into doing more,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think he has done far more than what Biden has taken credit in terms of unifying NATO, galvanizing the world and unifying his own people,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B4\" class=\"a8d adSo\"><\/figure>\n<p>He said the Ukrainian military was already preparing for an insurgency, shifting from door-kicking missions to guerrilla warfare.<\/p>\n<p>He also said the Russians are appearing to adjust their tactics, too, going from\u00a0precision strikes meant to keep their infrastructure intact to siege warfare and leveling cities to break the will of the Ukrainian people.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_20103034\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Bombing-of-Chernigiv-Ukraine.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-20103034\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Bombing-of-Chernigiv-Ukraine.jpg\" alt=\"Firefighters work to extinguish a fire at a damaged city center after Russian air raid in Chernigiv, Ukraine, Thursday, March 3, 2022. Russian forces have escalated their attacks on crowded cities in what Ukraine&#039;s leader called a blatant campaign of terror. (AP Photo\/Dmytro Kumaka)\" width=\"1024\" height=\"766\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Firefighters work to extinguish a fire at a damaged city center after Russian air raid in Chernigiv, Ukraine, Thursday, March 3, 2022. Russian forces have escalated their attacks on crowded cities in what Ukraine\u2019s leader called a blatant campaign of terror. (AP Photo\/Dmytro Kumaka)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cSo I think this is going to grind into a protracted war. And therefore\u2026logistics is what matters the most,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>He said normally, a Soviet brigade will deploy with about three to four weeks of supplies, so if the war goes beyond that, Russian President Vladimir Putin will have to shift Russia\u2019s industrial base to support the war effort.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf the insurgency can cut off the logistics and supply lines, which will be very vulnerable in spring because it\u2019ll be totally confined to the roads, then that\u2019s how they\u2019ll have a fighting chance,\u201d he said. \u201cLogistics is what wins wars.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He said he is hearing that part of the reason the Russian military has not been able to establish air dominance is due to not replenishing their stocks from their involvement in Syria.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s part of the\u00a0reason they haven\u2019t been able to establish air dominance \u2014 literally not enough bombs, missiles, spare parts for their planes, which I\u00a0think is a really important dynamic. We just assumed that they\u2019ve got unlimited\u00a0amount of stuff, but high-end precision stuff, they don\u2019t have nearly as much as you think,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>He also said Zelensky might want to think about relocating to Lviv in the West.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOn one hand, I admire\u00a0Zelensky in standing strong and all his great quotes, but on the other hand, over the long\u00a0term, he has to live, he has to survive, he has to keep his government intact. And I can\u00a0certainly see a scenario where he displaces to Lviv, stays inside Ukraine,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor the United States, that is much cleaner and easier for us to support the ongoing\u00a0government than if that government is overthrown, and now we\u2019re supporting a\u00a0guerrilla movement against the Ukrainian government.\u00a0That has some more complex legal\u00a0questions between overt military Title 10 and covert title 50 \u2014\u00a0I\u2019ll just leave it at that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Follow Breitbart News\u2019s Kristina Wong on <a href=\"http:\/\/www.twitter.com\/kristina_wong\">Twitter<\/a>\u00a0or on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/kristinawongreporting\">Facebook<\/a>.<\/em>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Rep. Mike Waltz (R-FL) said stinger missiles from the United States did not start arriving in Ukraine until a week ago, when Russia invaded Ukraine, despite asking for them months<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1357342","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1357342","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1357342"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1357342\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1357342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1357342"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1357342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}