On Sunday, Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) said that he introduced a resolution to authorize the U.S. military to engage in combat with Russia should the Russian military use chemical, biological, or nuclear weapons in Ukraine.
Kinzinger said while on CBS’ "Face the Nation" that any such attack in Ukraine would be a “clear red line.” He said that if his proposed resolution was passed by Congress, it would give President Joe Biden the authorization to allow the U.S. to provide military assistance to Ukraine.
The New York Post reported that Kinzinger said, “I don’t think we need to be using force in Ukraine right now. I just introduced an AUMF, an authorization for the use of military force, giving the president basically congressional leverage for permission to use it if [weapons of mass destruction] — nuclear, biological, or chemical — are used in Ukraine.”
Kinzinger said the authorization would provide Biden leverage while also serving as a deterrent to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Kinzinger said that his resolution wouldn’t "compel the president to [use military force]. It just says if [WMDs are] used, he has the leverage. It gives him better flexibility, but also it is a deterrent to Vladimir Putin."
Shortly after his appearance on CBS, Kinzinger released a statement on his official Congressional Twitter account that said, “Words matter, but so do our actions. I’m introducing this AUMF as a clear redline so @POTUS can take appropriate action if Russia uses chemical, biological, and/or nuclear weapons. We must stand up for humanity and we must stand with our allies.”
Words matter, but so do our actions. I\u2019m introducing this AUMF as a clear redline so @POTUS can take appropriate action if Russia uses chemical, biological, and/or nuclear weapons. We must stand up for humanity and we must stand with our allies.https://bit.ly/3Ks1QE4— Adam Kinzinger (@Adam Kinzinger) 1651418362
In the immediate aftermath of the attacks on September 11, 2001, Congress passed an AUMF. In doing so, the national legislature authorized former President George W. Bush to use the U.S. military to launch military campaigns in the pursuit of punishing the terror groups that launched the attacks.
Congress approved a similar AUMF for the 2002 invasion of Iraq.
Kinzinger said that the U.S. must similarly be ready to engage in military conflict on behalf of Ukraine.
Kinzinger said, “Prior to World War II, there were moments nobody ever wanted to get involved and eventually came to realize they had to. I hope we don’t get to that point here, but we should be ready if we do.”
As of Saturday, the Ukrainian military has taken the entirety of the region containing the country’s capital city of Kyiv.
In a statement shared on Facebook, Hanna Maliar, the Ukrainian defense minister, said, “Irpin, Bucha, Gostomel, and the whole Kyiv region were liberated from the invader.”
The Daily Mail reported that the towns of Irpin and Bucha — from which people would previously commute to and from Kyiv — were reclaimed by Ukrainian forces earlier this week. Both towns have reportedly suffered high civilian death tolls and experienced large-scale destruction.
The mayor of Bucha said that 280 people had been buried in a mass grave while corpses littered the city’s streets, while at least 200 people have been killed in Irpin — which is often considered a suburb of Kyiv.
There was also heavy fighting in Gostomel as both Russian and Ukrainian forces sought to gain control of the region’s airfield.
Ukrainian officials have said that Russia’s current process of withdrawing from the northern parts of Ukraine is strategic so that the Russian military can refocus its forces on the country’s eastern and southern regions.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson reportedly called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to congratulate Ukraine’s “brave armed forces” for successfully pushing back the invading Russian army.
Ukraine’s apparent victory at retaking Kyiv comes as broken-down Russian artillery litter the highways that connect the city to the rest of the country.
The Daily Mail said, “As Ukrainian units advance, they’re met with burned-out tanks and heavily-armored personnel transport vehicles that line the roads once populated by commuters that would have been heading in or out of the capital.”
Despite the off-putting nature of abundant worn-down and broken machinery, the Ukrainian military apparently continues to discover gruesome relics of war, potentially indicating that the Russians continued to commit war crimes as they withdrew from Kyiv.
Reportedly, Ukrainian troops found the bodies of 20 men dressed in civilian clothing on a single street. Eyewitnesses said that one of the corpses had his hands tied.
The dead bodies were strewn across roads of residential areas and suburban towns.
Zelenskkyy warned that the withdrawing Russian forces were leaving behind “catastrophic” situations by placing land mines outside of residential areas, abandoning their broken-down equipment, and the “bodies of those killed.”
The Ukrainian forces were also successful in retaking control of the infamous Chernobyl nuclear plant.
The Russian invasion has reportedly displaced 4 million Ukrainian refugees.
Germany is moving to strengthen its defensive forces in the wake of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
Bloomberg reported that the formerly demilitarized nation is planning to buy a missile defense system as it moves to modernize its military.
The German government is reportedly considering options that include the American manufactured THAAD missile shield and the Israeli-made Arrow 3 system.
This past week, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz — the successor to Angela Merkel — discussed the modernization of Germany’s military with German Chief of Staff Eberhard Zorn. Subsequently, the German government earmarked $110 billion (100 billion euros) for additional defense spending.
Currently, Germany only has 12 Patriot anti-rocket units that are unable to provide the country with comprehensive defense.
The revolutionary, Israeli missile defense system — known as the Iron Dome — is reported to likely cost less than 2 billion euros and according to Marcus Faber, a member of the Free Democratic Party in the German parliament, production on such a system could begin immediately.
Faber indicated that no final decision about what missile defense system to use has yet been reached by the German government.
Germany isn’t the only country after Iron Dome technology in the aftermath of the Russian invasion.
In late March, while addressing the Israeli Knesset, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy drew comparisons between the ongoing Russian invasion of his country to Nazi Germany’s attempts to exterminate the Jewish people, reported Reuters.
In doing so, Zelenskyy insisted that the Israeli government had an obligation to share its Iron Dome technology with Ukraine.
Zelenskyy said, “Everybody knows that your missile defense systems are the best, and you can definitely help our people, save the lives of Ukrainians, of Ukrainian Jews.”
Zelenskyy went on to question Israel’s commitment to reaching a peaceful resolution to the crisis in Ukraine since the country’s leadership opts to remain neutral.
“We can ask why we can’t receive weapons from you, why Israel has not imposed powerful sanctions on Russia or is not putting pressure on Russian business,” Zelenskyy said. “Either way, the choice is yours to make, brothers and sisters, and you must then live with your answer.”
According to the German news network n-tv, installing Iron Dome defense systems would enable Germany to proactively defend itself and a number of other nearby countries.
N-tv said, “The radar devices are so powerful that the protective shield could also cover Poland, Romania, and the Baltic States.”
Israeli leadership urged their Ukrainian counterparts to accept the peace offer made to them by Vladimir Putin.
On Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy over the phone and urged the Ukrainian president to accept an offer extended by Russia to end the military conflict, the Jerusalem Post reported.
An official with the Ukrainian government said that Zelenskyy did not accept Bennett’s advice.
Bennett reportedly said, “If I were you, I would think about the lives of my people and take the offer.”
To which Zelenskyy responded with, “I hear you.”
The same Ukrainian official told the Jerusalem Post that “Bennett told us to surrender. We have no intention of doing so. We know Putin’s offer is only the beginning.”
Russian leadership said that it would end its invasion if Ukraine ceased military actions, changed its constitution to ensure geopolitical neutrality, recognized Crimea as Russian territory, and recognized the Russian-controlled areas of Donetsk and Luhansk as independent states.
The Israeli Prime Minister’s office has claimed that Israel’s mediation efforts force both Ukrainian and Russian leadership to seek a more cautious and balanced approach to the conflict. In this spirit, Israeli leadership asked the Russian government to cease its requests for military and defense aid from other nations.
According to the Ukrainian official, however, Zelenskyy is growing increasingly frustrated with the lack of results from Bennett’s mediation. The official said that Zelenskyy feels as though Bennett is functioning more as a middle-man who passes along messages from parties in Russia and Ukraine without doing much to help the two nations find an agreeable compromise.
“We don’t need a mailbox,” the official said, “We have enough of those. If Bennett wants to be neutral and mediate, we would expect to see him appoint someone to work on it day and night and try to get a compromise.”
The Ukrainian ambassador to Israel — Yvgeni Kornichuk — is expected to meet with Knesset Chairman Mickey Levi to discuss the details of Zelenskyy’s planned address to Knesset members.
Previously, Kornichuk said that Israel’s mediation efforts were a valuable resource for the Ukrainian government.
He said, “Thank you for the peace effort. This is priceless for us. This is much more important than sales of weapons and of munitions, which we are still fighting for, but we understand [your reasons for not sending them].”
In a Saturday briefing, Zelenskyy reaffirmed his belief that Israeli leadership serves an important role as a mediator.
He said, “I believe [Bennett} can play an important role, because Israel is a country with a lot of history and parallels [to our situation], as well as having a large migration of Jews from Ukraine, Russia, and Belarus.”
The Biden administration plans to ban imports of oil and natural gas from Russia as soon as Tuesday.
Two people reportedly with knowledge of the matter told the Washington Post that President Joe Biden intends to punish Russia for invading Ukraine by implementing an import ban.
Biden is scheduled to speak Tuesday morning and announce “actions to continue to hold Russia accountable for its unprovoked and unjustified war on Ukraine.”
These new sanctions will ban imports of Russian oil, liquefied natural gas, and coal, Markets Insider reported.
The administration’s decision to ban these products came after lengthy discussions with European allies. However, at this time, those European nations are not joining the United States in banning Russian energy imports with the exception of the United Kingdom, per Politico.
Western nations have been particularly hesitant to stop importing oil from Russia since Russia provides them with a substantial amount of their energy. The European Union, for instance, gets around 40% of its natural gas from Russia. Russia accounts for roughly 12% of global oil production.
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak warned that a Western ban on Russian oil would yield “catastrophic consequences” for the global market and cause oil prices to surge beyond $300 a barrel.
Oil prices were already reaching historic highs before the White House considered barring the import of Russian energy.
Last week, crude oil futures listed prices at more than $113 per barrel. This is the highest that oil has traded since 2011.
And for the first time since 2008, the average price of gas in the U.S. is over $4 a gallon. In some states, like California, gas is well over $5 a gallon.
Despite the skyrocketing costs of energy consumption, the Biden administration is adamantly opposed to increasing domestic oil production.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki argued that instead of increasing domestic production, the U.S. should pivot away from fossil fuels altogether.
“It’s a reminder that real energy security comes from reducing our dependence on fossil fuels," Psaki said. "Domestic production has not insulated us from the price volatility of fossil fuels or the whims of those who control them such as President Putin. Americans know that."
The Biden administration has even floated the possibility of buying oil from countries that are openly hostile to the United States, like Iran and Venezuela, instead of increasing domestic oil production.
Senior American officials are even meeting with representatives of the Maduro regime in Venezuela to discuss the possibility of purchasing oil from the Venezuelan reserves.
Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk says he will travel to a high-radiation location to "eat locally grown food on TV" after calling for a massive increase of nuclear energy production in Europe, Insider reported Monday.
Musk on Sunday called for European nations to increase their output of nuclear power in an effort to offset the possibility of a gas shortage.
He wrote, "Hopefully, it is now extremely obvious that Europe should restart dormant nuclear power stations and increase power output of existing ones. This is *critical* to national and international security."
Following backlash with many social media users stating a fear of radiation contamination in their food, Musk added, "For those who (mistakenly) think this is a radiation risk, pick what you think is the worst location. I will travel there & eat locally grown food on TV. I did this in Japan many years ago, shortly after Fukushima. Radiation risk is much, much lower than most people believe."
For those who (mistakenly) think this is a radiation risk, pick what you think is the worst location. I will travel there & eat locally grown food on TV.\n\nI did this in Japan many years ago, shortly after Fukushima. Radiation risk is much, much lower than most people believe.— Elon Musk (@Elon Musk) 1646609600
Over the weekend, Musk also called for the U.S. to increase its domestic oil and gas production and output amid sanctions imposed on Russia.
Insider reported that Russian oil exports have plummeted by approximately 33% amid the country's invasion of neighboring Ukraine.
On Friday, Musk tweeted, "Hate to say it, but we need to increase oil & gas output immediately. Extraordinary times demand extraordinary measures."
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) announced support for the sentiment and responded, "Couldn't agree more! Unleash American energy NOW!"
Cruz on Friday also issued a statement regarding his newly introduced Energy Freedom Act, which would help release the U.S. from its extreme reliance on foreign energy sources.
“I’m introducing the Energy Freedom Act to reverse Biden’s actions so we can restore American energy independence," he said in a statement on the proposed legislation. "This bill won’t cost taxpayers a dime, but it will provide the United States billions in revenue in the coming years by expediting permitting, leasing, safe new pipelines, and exports, and providing much needed regulatory certainty. It would create new jobs, lower energy costs, and because modern energy production in the United States is far cleaner than in any other country’s by every measure, it would help the environment."
Ukrainian-born actress Mila Kunis and her husband, Ashton Kutcher, have pledged to donate up to $3 million to aid Ukrainian citizens fleeing from their war-torn country as Russia continues its deadly invasion.
In a Thursday video shared to his Twitter account, Kutcher and Kunis said that they were "proud" of Kunis's heritage and intended to provide aid for Ukrainian refugees.
“I was born in Chernivtsi, Ukraine in 1983. I came to America in 1991," Kunis explained. "I have always considered myself American, a proud American, I love everything that this country has done for myself and my family. But today, I have never been more proud to be a Ukrainian."
Kutcher added, “And I’ve never been more proud to be married to a Ukrainian."
“The events that have unfolded in Ukraine are devastating. There is no place in this world for this kind of unjust attack on humanity,” Kunis continued, and vowed to match up to $3 million in donations for refugee relief via GoFundMe.
Fox News reported that the funds will be distributed to necessary causes through Flexport.org and Airbnb.org, which have been assisting needy and fleeing Ukrainians.
“While we witness the bravery of the people of the country that she was born in we’re also witness to the needs of those who have chosen safety," Kutcher explained. "We’re raising funds to support a relief effort that will have immediate impact and supply much needed refugee and humanitarian aid in the area. The principal challenge right now is logistics. We need to get housing, and we need to get supplies and resources into the area."
Kunis added, "The people of Ukraine are strong and brave but being strong and brave doesn’t mean you’re not worthy of support. We need to support the people of Ukraine. Please help us."
Standing with Ukraine means supporting Ukrainians. #StandWithUkraine (1/2)https://www.gofundme.com/f/stand-with-ukraine\u00a0\u2026— ashton kutcher (@ashton kutcher) 1646350981
#StandWithUkraine (2/2)pic.twitter.com/3njMN01dHJ— ashton kutcher (@ashton kutcher) 1646351693
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell believes that the Fed is on track to raise interest rates in mid-March.
“Making appropriate monetary policy in this environment requires a recognition that the economy evolves in unexpected ways. We will need to be nimble in responding to incoming data and the evolving outlook,” Powell said in prepared testimony before Congress.
Powell said that it was too soon to tell how the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine, and the subsequent sanctions on Russia issued by Western nations, could affect the U.S. economy, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The chairman’s remarks highlight the delicate economic climate that the Federal Reserve must navigate as it raises interest rates for the first time since 2018 amid rapid inflation that could be further exasperated in response to Western sanctions on Russia.
He said, “The near-term effects on the U.S. economy of the invasion of Ukraine, the ongoing war, the sanctions, and of events to come, remain highly uncertain.”
It’s typically unusual for the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates during times of geopolitical conflict. That said, the Fed is under increased pressure to raise rates since inflation is running far above the Fed’s 2% target and Western sanctions on Russia stand to further raise prices.
In late February, allied leaders of Western nations issued a joint statement expressing their intentions to restrict Russian access to the SWIFT telecommunications network.
In the statement, Western leaders from the European Commission, France, Germany, Italy, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States said, “As Russian forces unleash their assault on Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities we are resolved to continue imposing costs on Russia that will further isolate Russia from the international financial system and our economies.”
Targeting the Russian financial sector, oligarchs, and the Russian central bank with these sanctions will economically isolate Russia and make international commerce extremely difficult for the country.
Similar to previous spikes in inflation being caused by supply chain shortages and difficulty importing goods, Powell and his colleagues at the Federal Reserve believe that the extra duress put on international trade as a result of these sanctions will cause prices to further to inflate for American consumers.
“We are attentive to the risks of potential further upward pressure on inflation expectations and inflation itself from a number of factors. We will use our policy tools as appropriate to prevent higher inflation from becoming entrenched,” Powell said.
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