LaLota, Garbarino vote more U.S. funds to Zelensky as Ukrainian Civil War drones on

The Ukrainian Civil War continues without abatement with Republican members of the Long Island delegation split from Upstate Republicans when the House voted June 4 to approve a $9 billion aid package.

“As a NavyVeteran, I will always prefer sending bombs and bullets to our allies to defeat a common adversary if it means not having to put American soldiers in harm’s way,” said Rep. Nicholas J. LaLota, representing NY-01.

LaLota, an Annapolis graduate, made a common mistake when he called Ukraine an ally, which it is not in any treaty and or official way.

Only 18 House Republicans voted for the bill, The Ukraine Support Act, over the objections of the House Republican leadership, joining all House Democrats present, which combined a $1 billion grant with an $8 billion in loan guarantees.

The other Long Island House Republican, Rep. Andrew R. Garbarino, NY-2, also voted for the package, but he did not make any public statements.

A nearly-Long Island House Republican, Rep. Michael V. Lawler, NY-17, also voted for the package, but the four other Empire State House Republicans, representatives Nicholas A. Langworthy, NY-23; Nicole Malliotakis, NY-11; Elise Stefanik, NY-11; and Claudia Tenney, NY-24, all voted with leadership against the package.

Senate Majority Leader John R. Thune, R-S.D., did not endorse the House bill or say he would bring it up for a vote, but he did say that in the light of the passing of Sen. Lindsey O. Graham, R-S.C., he would bring up the bill the late senator co-sponsored with Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D.-Conn.

The bills are virtually the same with a new ratcheting up of sanctions against the Russians, and restrictions on the administration’s ability to lift Russian sanctions–but now there is the impetus to give Graham a parting gift.

Thune told CNN he was working it. “It would certainly be an incredible legacy for him, if, in fact, we could find a path forward.”

Graham also supported the SAVE America Act, which Thune and his team are dead-set against, all the while, voting for the bill, when he and they knew the bill would fall short.

President Donald J. Trump did not support the Ukraine bills in either chamber, but July 14, he told reporters he would sign a Ukraine Support Act, if it included sanctions against the Iranian regime and its leadership.

“I think they may be adding Iran to it,” the president said.

“They’re going to add Iran, which is a big thing. If they did that, they may add Hezbollah, too,” he said.

Trump also acknowledged Graham’s support of Ukraine, as well as his long-term animosity to the Iranian regime being a factor: “This is in honor of Lindsey, and this was his thing.”

Five days later, the president posted on Truth Social: “Republicans should add Iran to the Russian Sanctions Bill. That’s what Lindsey wanted to do, and it was going to happen. IMPORTANT!!!”

All of this comes as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky July 15 fired his war minister Mykhailo Fedorov just as the Kiev-government’s forces were making progress against the Russian military supporting the breakaway provinces, Donbas and Crimea.

The Russians entered Ukraine Feb. 24, 2022 as the Kiev-government was stepping up its combat operations against the cultural Russians seeking self-determination.

Later that day, Zelensky decreed martial law, which suspended all national, provincial and local elections–in effect, freezing him and his party in power as long as the war continued.

While Zelensky remained personally popular, Ukrainians did not seem to mind that their leader had a political incentive to keep the war going.

That dynamic changed July 15, when Zelenky fired Fedorov, who had brought innovative and aggressive tactics to the theater, including his dramatic expansion of the battlespace with drove and missile attacks on interior Russian targets.

Now, as the political opposition in Ukraine has awoken from its slumber, Congress is poised to send Zelensky billions more.

In the end, the Ukraine Support Act is playing out as the Zelensky Support Act as he has to remember what it is like to function in a democracy.

In the past four years, many Republicans have wised up to Zelensky, but not all of them. LaLota and Garbarino are still willing to spend billions to keep millions of Russians out of Russia.