WASHINGTON, D.C., USA — Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, spoke with reporters on Monday, days after traveling to meet with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Ukraine.
King, a member of both the Senate Armed Services and Intelligence committees, joined Armed Services Committee Chair Sen. Jack Reed, D-Rhode Island, on the trip.
King said he went to Ukraine for two main reasons: First, to see the war for himself.
"A wise, old man once told me that one day of seeing is worth 100 days of reading," King remarked. He also went to Ukraine to check in on U.S. taxpayer aid, on the heels of Congress passing an additional $45 billion to support Ukraine and NATO allies.
It is reasonable, he said, for Americans to ask how their money is being spent. The senator added that he asked direct questions of Zelenskyy and the president's staff, and saw "in excruciating detail" the software used by the Ukrainian government and the Pentagon to "track every spare part, every dollar."
In a December 21 address to the U.S. Congress, Zelenskyy said, "Your money is not charity. It is an investment in global security and democracy."
King said the president knew the importance of trusting his regime with U.S. funds.
"I said, 'If there’s a scandal involving the misuse of these resources that will jeopardize any additional resources flowing,'" King recalled telling Zelenskyy. "He understood that."
NEWS CENTER Maine asked King how concerned he was about American-made weapons killing Russians, like the previous Monday, when Ukrainian forces fired missiles from an American HIMARS launch system into a building in the eastern region of Donetsk. The Kremlin claimed 63 Russian personnel were killed in the attack. Ukraine's government believed the death toll was much higher.
King said Putin sees every action of defense as an escalation, but he added the U.S. administration has been careful to send missiles and vehicles that defend Ukrainian territory and can’t be used in an assault into Russia.
King said continued aid is absolutely needed; not just for Ukraine, which he said is waging trench warfare on the eastern front. The aid is also needed, he said, for the free world, and scoffed at Republican lawmakers who have criticized the amount of aid sent to Ukraine, and some who campaigned in the fall on the idea of cutting it off.
"My response to my Republican colleagues who are making these noises is, read a little history," King shook his head. "Because history tells us now is the time to take a stand."
King compared Putin's ambitions to Adolf Hitler's expanding fascism ahead of World War II which, King said, could have been squelched earlier than it was.
"I get letters every now and then from people saying, 'Why are we doing this? Ukraine’s far away. It’s not our fight,'" he recalled. "Well, it is our fight. Because if we don’t fight it now, it will spread. And it will become something that we can’t avoid being involved in; just as occurred in the late 30s at the beginning of World War II."
King wore a Joshua Chamberlain sweatshirt to the meeting and explained it to Zelenskyy. King called the civil war hero "the greatest citizen Maine ever produced," and believes Zelenskyy is a similar leader.
"You think about courage and determination and grit and visionary leadership. And, as I was thinking about the trip, all of those qualities remind me of Chamberlain," he said.
The new year brings Ukraine closer to the February 24 anniversary of Russia's unprovoked invasion. One year in, Ukrainian forces, NATO aid, and, often, Zelenskyy himself, continue to hold the line.