Republican senators ask Biden to send fighter jets to Ukraine

US Republican Senator Lindsey Graham and several other Republicans in the Senate have called on President Joe Biden to send fighter jets and air defense systems to Ukraine, amid an ongoing Russian military operation in the country.

Graham on Wednesday introduced a resolution, which is backed by nine other Republican senators, throwing formal Senate support behind Biden to "support the transfer of aircraft, such as MiG-29s, and air defense systems to Ukraine" and give Senate backing to efforts by other countries to transfer planes or air defense systems to Ukraine.

"I'm urging the Senate to speak with one voice, to meet the moment. ... If we had a vote on the resolution to supply the Ukrainian military with the MiG fighters and other air defense systems, it would be a shot in the arm to Ukrainian people and their military," Graham said.

"It would be a blow to [Russian President Vladimir] Putin. If we do this soon, I think it really could help the outcome of this conflict," he added.

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Graham's resolution comes after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky virtually addressed the US Congress on Wednesday, and called on the United States to step up its military assistance to Ukraine.

Zelensky asked the US to establish "no-fly zones" to protect Ukraine from Russian airstrikes and stop buying Russian oil and gas. He also requested additional MiG-29 jets for his country.

Russian President Vladimir Putin warned that any attempt to impose a no-fly zone in Ukraine would lead to catastrophic consequences for the world.

Putin said his country is defending Russian-speaking communities through the "demilitarisation and de-Nazification" of Ukraine so that their neighbor became neutral and no longer threatened Russia.

Biden, however, called the Russian military action in Ukraine an "unprovoked and unjustified attack," and the mainstream American media described it as the biggest assault on a European state since World War Two attack by Russia.

The United States has provided Ukraine with several hundred million in additional military assistance.

US President Joe Biden authorized the $200 million additional military equipment for Ukraine on Saturday.

Washington already authorized $350 million of military equipment on February 26, after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced that the State Department was releasing "lethal defensive assistance" from US stocks to Ukraine.

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Blinken said the package was aimed at helping "Ukraine address the armored, airborne, and other threats it is now facing."

Russia said its forces could target supplies of Western weapons in Ukraine and that the pouring in of arms would turn convoys "into legitimate targets."

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