Senator Blumenthal says Ukraine needs additional air defense — The Hill

Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut said that Ukraine needs additional air defense capabilities in its war against the Russian Federation — the aggressor state. He said this in an interview with CBS News' Face the Nation program.

Call to strengthen air defense

Blumenthal said that Russian President Vladimir Putin “understands only strength and power,” and that attempts to warn or persuade him with words would be largely ineffective. According to the senator, Europeans also understand that Ukraine currently needs additional air defense.

Russia has intensified air attacks against Ukraine, against the backdrop of which, as the outlet notes, the number of civilian deaths is rising. The Hill reports on the senator's statement.

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CIA director's trip to Moscow

Blumenthal's comments came during a discussion of the recent trip by U.S. Central Intelligence Agency Director John Ratcliffe to Moscow. According to several reports, the visit was intended to warn Russia against attacking NATO countries.

U.S. President Donald Trump called Ratcliffe's trip “semi-routine,” while officials from the Baltic states downplayed the risk of an attack in the near future. A European official told The Hill that the United States had informed its allies about the CIA director's trip and that it concerned Ukraine. According to the official, there is no direct military threat to NATO.

The previous visit by a CIA director to Russia took place in late 2021. At the time, Bill Burns traveled there to warn Putin against launching a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.