Putin will win if Israel funding split from Ukraine, Blinken and Austin tell senators

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The heads of the State Department and Pentagon on Tuesday warned senators that should lawmakers approve funding for Israel but not Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin will win.

Speaking during a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin urged senators to keep intact the Biden administration’s $106 billion supplemental request for Israel, Ukraine and the Indo-Pacific.

Though many lawmakers in both parties support a joint package, House Republicans skeptical of additional Ukraine aid have threatened to sink the plan. And Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) is pushing an Israel-only package that would also cut billions in funding for the Internal Revenue Service.

Austin and Blinken warned that without continued U.S. funding for Ukraine, Russian forces would be sure to defeat Kyiv, with wider consequences for the globe.

“It’s hard to put an exact timeline on how long it would take,” Austin said when asked how long until Russia wins should the U.S. fail to provide more aid to Kyiv. “I can guarantee that without our support, Putin will be successful … If we pull the rug out from under [Ukraine] now, Putin will only get stronger.”

Blinken, meanwhile, said “it would do both terrible harm to our values, but also to our core interests” to leave Ukraine out in the cold.

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