National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan took to the Sunday news shows where he boasted that the White House is surging as many weapons as possible to Ukraine in the final days of the Biden administration.
He explained to ABC News that with just 50 days left in Biden's term, the White House is busy trying to "get Ukraine all the tools we possibly can to strengthen their position on the battlefield."
"President Biden directed me to oversee a massive surge in the military equipment that we are delivering to Ukraine so that we have spent every dollar that Congress has appropriated to us by the time that President Biden leaves office," he said.
Biden and his top officials have long pledged to support Ukraine with arms and funding "for as long as it takes" to defeat Russia.
But Sullivan and other defense officials have of late begun to acknowledge the inevitability of the Zelensky government having to enter negotiations with Moscow. For the time being, Sullivan said Washington aims to "give Ukraine as many tools as possible so that they could go into that negotiation and feel they could achieve the outcome that they would like to see."
Still, Sullivan sought to reiterate in the ABC appearance that the "key thing" behind potential negotiations to end the war is that Ukraine’s destiny should "not be imposed by outside powers, including the United States."
Concerning a recent NY Times report that suggested some US officials want to see nuclear weapons given to Ukraine, Sullivan dismissed this as a possibility:
Still, Sullivan debunked a report suggesting that the administration is open to returning nuclear weapons to Ukraine.
"That is not under consideration. No. What we are doing is surging various conventional capacities to Ukraine so that they can effectively defend themselves and take the fight to the Russians, not nuclear capability," he told Karl.
As for dealing with the incoming Trump administration, Sullivan confirmed there is contact on handing "off the baton" - though Trump has vowed to immediately negotiate an end to the war.
"I've encouraged the Ukrainian team to engage the incoming team as well as to engage all of our allies and partners, because, again, on Jan. 21, the war in Ukraine doesn't just go away," Sullivan said.
Mike Waltz, the incoming National Security Advisor, says he has met with Jake Sullivan, the current National Security Advisor, and declares the Trump and Biden administrations are "hand in glove" and "one team" -- after a week in which Biden introduced huge escalations in Ukraine pic.twitter.com/4oQRQnqVCT
— Michael Tracey (@mtracey) November 24, 2024
He added: "Obviously, the new team will have its own policy, its own approach, and I can't speak to that, but what I can do is make sure that we put Ukraine in the best possible position when we hand off the baton."
But the Biden administration's policy has really only been a recipe for uncontrollable escalation. A 'massive surge' of new military equipment assures a prolonging of the war, even as it's become clear that Ukraine's real problem is manpower, and as Russian gains are evident in the east.
