Daines says Putin ‘botched’ war in Ukraine

Montana Sen. Steve Daines said he supported providing MiG-29 jets to Ukraine to fight its war against Russia, a move that was squashed by the Biden Administration.

The jets would have been provided to Ukraine through a three-way deal where Poland gave the jets it has to Ukraine, while the U.S. and other allies gave Poland jets in return.

Daines, a Republican, recently returned from Poland and Germany with nine other U.S. Senators to talk about the ongoing war.

The Senator also said the U.S. needs to ramp up energy production to help Europe end its reliance on Russian oil, at one point saying “drill baby drill.”

He said President Biden stopped the Keystone XL pipeline, while endorsing the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which would have fed Europe with Russian natural gas.

Daines said renewable energy should be an “additive,” and not replace fossil fuels.

Europe has been shifting to renewables.

“We can’t let America follow the same path,” he said.

As far as the war goes, which is a month into the conflict, Daines said the U.S. needs to continue providing Ukraine with lethal aide.

“The fastest way to end the suffering is to win the war,” he said. He said the war would end when Ukraine wins. He also said that Russian President Vladimir Putin had “botched” the war. Putin, he claimed, thought it would be over in a few days.

“We need to accelerate lethal aide to Ukraine,” he said.

However, he stopped short of endorsing a no-fly zone or getting U.S. troops involved in the conflict.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has pleaded with Europe and the U.S. to enforce a no-fly zone as cities are being reduced to rubble by Russian bombs and missiles.