US congressman urges F-16 supplies for Ukraine at "crucial turning point in conflict"

Michael McCaul, the chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee at the US Congress, has said that he hopes Republicans and Democrats both pressure the White House to agree to send long-range missiles and F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine, particularly ahead of an expected offensive directed by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The jets and other munitions could come at a crucial turning point in the conflict, he said, according to ABC News.

"When we give them what they can really use and ask for, they win," he said of the Ukrainians. "When we slow-walk and slow-pace this thing, it drags it out, and that's precisely what Putin wants."

Raddatz asked McCaul if the F-16s would be vulnerable to Russian air defences, and he said they would.

The Biden administration has said that fighter jets and long-range missiles are not what Ukraine needs right now -- compared with "ground manoeuvre capability" to help "de-occupy" the southern and eastern territories, the White House's national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said in a separate appearance on "This Week" on Sunday.

McCaul pushed back on that assessment, citing his conversations with top Ukrainian and American military officials.

When pressed by Raddatz on what can be done legislatively to pressure Biden to send the weapons to Ukraine that he seeks, McCaul said, "We can certainly write into our appropriations bills prioritizing weapon systems, and we intend to do that."