Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) is previewing a “record level” of U.S. military support for Ukraine after President Donald Trump himself teased a “major announcement” on Monday regarding Russia.
“The game regarding [Russian President Vladimir] Putin‘s invasion of Russia is about to change,” Graham told CBS on Sunday. “I expect in the coming days you will see weapons flowing at a record level to help Ukraine defend themselves.”
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Graham told the network he anticipates that support to be financed by Trump’s presidential drawdown authority, the president’s first use of that authority during his second administration, with reports that it could be worth up to $300 million.
The United States does have $3.86 billion worth of presidential drawdown authority for Ukraine after former President Joe Biden last withdrew $500 million in January before Trump’s inauguration.
“Putin made a miscalculation here,” Graham said. “For six months, President Trump tried to entice Putin to the table. The attacks have gone up, not down. One of the biggest miscalculations Putin has made is to play Trump, and you just watch, in the coming days and weeks, there’s going to be a massive effort to get Putin to the table.”
Last week, Trump repealed a Pentagon decision to pause military shipments to Ukraine pending a forcewide stockpile review, which was implemented without informing the White House. The president, who promised peace between Ukraine and Russia on Day One of his second administration, later told NBC News that the U.S. would start selling more weapons to NATO allies to be deployed to Ukraine before teasing Monday’s announcement.
“The idea of America selling weapons to help Ukraine is very much in play,” Graham said on Sunday. “We’ve given Ukraine a lot. We’ve given them money. We’ve given them military aid. We now have a minerals agreement with Ukraine that’s worth trillions of dollars. So I don’t want to get ahead of the president, but stay tuned about seized assets.”
Reports regarding the presidential drawdown coincide with Trump’s increasingly public frustration with Putin’s refusal to agree to peace with Ukraine.
“We get a lot of bulls*** thrown at us by Putin, if you want to know the truth,” Trump said last week. “He’s very nice all the time, but it turns out to be meaningless.”
At the same time, Trump has also expressed more support for Graham’s bill proposing new sanctions on Russia, including a 500% tariff on goods imported from countries that purchase Russian oil, gas, and uranium. The president, however, has repeated that he should have the power to later waive the sanctions rather than Congress. The bill has 85 co-sponsors in its current form.
On Sunday, Graham reiterated that the only way to end the war in Ukraine is to pressure countries aiding Russia to “choose between the American economy and helping Putin.”
“The big offender here is China, India, and Brazil,” Graham said. “China, India, and Brazil, you’re about to get hurt big time if you keep helping Putin.”
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Graham added that he and the bill’s Democratic lead sponsor, Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), will be having dinner with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte on Monday during his trip to Washington, D.C. Rutte is additionally scheduled to sit down with Trump.
“A turning point regarding Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is coming,” he said.