US Financial Support to Ukraine Not Enough, Weapons Still Needed: Senator

US Senator John McCain said that the recent US $2 billion in loan guarantees to Ukraine may help the country financially, but US military aid is required to solve Ukraine’s problems.

WASHINGTON, January 13 (Sputnik) — The newly promised US loan guarantees to Ukraine may help the financial situation in the country, but US military aid is definitely required to solve Ukraine’s problems, US Senator John McCain told Sputnik on Tuesday.

“You can’t shoot people with dollar bills,” McCain stated when asked about the US Treasury’s announcement of $2 billion in loan guarantees to Ukraine on Tuesday. “The fact is that they still don’t have the weapons with which to defend themselves.”

McCain added that Ukrainians “need all the financial help they can get, but it’s not going to solve the problem until they regain control of their nation.”

The Senator, who was recently appointed to chair the Senate Armed Services Committee argued that US economic support for Ukraine is important given the poor performance of the country’s economy, but called US refusal to provide weapons to Kiev “a shameful chapter in American history.”

The US Treasury Department announced on Tuesday that it would be extending a $1 billion loan guarantee to Ukraine for the first part of 2015. Based on the progress the government makes on its IMF-negotiated reform agenda, the US is willing to provide an additional $1 billion guarantee for the second half of the year.

The United States has already provided Ukraine with $340 million in aid during 2014, whereas the IMF has also contributed to a rescue package for the struggling Ukrainian economy amounting to $17 billion over the course of two years.