WASHINGTON, November 12 (RIA Novosti) – US senator John McCain has called yet again on the United States to start lethal military aid supplies to the Kiev government.
"We want to give the Ukrainians weapons to defend themselves as the Russians are dismembering their country," McCain said during a Veterans Day event at the National Press Club on Tuesday.
Within the US Senate there is bipartisan support for supplying Ukraine with military equipment, but the White House has refused any overt programs to arm the government in Kiev.
During a July visit to Washington, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko requested lethal military aid from the Obama administration, but Washington refused to grant it.
The situation in Ukraine escalated in mid-April, when Kiev launched a military operation against independence supporters in the country's southeastern regions, who refused to recognize the new government which came to power as a result of the February coup.
The West has since accused Russia of meddling in Ukraine's internal affairs, going as far as to claim that Russia has sent troops and weapons to independence supporters in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Russia has repeatedly denied these accusations.
