Top House Intel. Dem: Sanctions Aren't Hurting Russia, Biden's Handcuffing Ukraine Too Much

On Friday’s broadcast of “CNN Newsroom,” House Intelligence Committee Ranking Member Rep. Jim Himes (D-CT) stated that Russia’s economy is “doing just fine” because China and India are buying their oil and while the delays in supplying Ukraine has hurt Ukraine, President Joe Biden also needs to loosen restrictions on how they can use the weapons.

Himes said, “It’s horrifying in the sense that we’re seeing the effects now of the six-month unconscionable delay that the Congress took in providing the weapons that Ukraine needs to win this war. And of course, weapons can’t magically appear on the Ukrainian battlefield overnight. So, while I’m delighted that the speaker finally did the right thing and we got the $60 billion in aid, we’re in that period right now where an awful lot of aid is on its way. That doesn’t do anything for Ukrainians on the frontline. Meanwhile, the Russians have sort of learned from their catastrophic mistakes of the early days. And so, they’re getting better.”

He continued, “The Chinese and the Indians continued to buy their energy. So, their economy is doing just fine. And so, what’s the answer? The answer is, we should never again let a gap in our aid to Ukraine appear. And, as you probably know, Jim, I’ve been sort of part of a group of members of Congress who’ve been urging the White House to lift some of the strictures that exist on the use of American weapons. And I understand that the President has to really factor in the possibility of what Russia could do if they were really losing, but the problem is, that’s not a question right now, because they’re not really losing. So, I think we need to get more aggressive, both in terms of what we supply and the rules that we put on the use of the weapons that we send there.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett