US Lawmaker: Washington Wants Russia to Lose in Ukraine But Not 'Too Badly'

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - The United States wants Russia to lose in Ukraine, but is not seeking its "abject defeat" or even "collapse" since it would be detrimental to global stability, Democratic Congressman Seth Moulton, a strong supporter of military aid to Ukraine, stated on Friday.

"I don’t know if it's good for the stability of the world if the Russian regime collapses," Moulton said in a podcast conversation at the Hudson Institute.

"For example, I am talking about nuclear proliferation. So saying that we want abject defeat of the Russians and the whole regime collapse is probably not what we actually want."

The lawmaker noted "it is a strange way in which we absolutely want Ukraine to win, we want Russia to lose, but we don't actually want Russia to lose too badly."

In an apparent slip of the tongue, Moulton conflated Russia with the Soviet Union, which was dissolved at the end of 1991. But he said the United States did not want to destroy Russia.

"We have no intent of taking out the Soviet Union or Russia," he said.

Moulton also called for the Biden administration to supply more heavy artillery ammunition, tanks and other offensive weapons to Ukraine to boost Kiev's capability to go on the offensive against Russian forces.