Democratic and Republican lawmakers urged Washington to arm the Ukrainian government on Sunday, saying it needed help to repel what they called Russia's invasion of the country, according to Reuters.
Senator Robert Menendez, who heads the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told CNN the United States, European Union and NATO should work together to arm Kiev, which has been fighting Russian-backed rebels in eastern Ukraine for months, Reuters reported.
"We ... should be providing the Ukrainians with the types of defensive weapons that will impose a cost upon (Russian President Vladimir) Putin for further aggression," the New Jersey Democrat told the "State of the Union" program from Kiev, according to Reuters.
President Barack Obama last week ruled out U.S. military action over Ukraine and called for a diplomatic solution, Reuters reported.
The Obama administration has stopped short of calling Moscow's intensified support for separatist forces in eastern Ukraine an invasion, and has said sanctions are the most effective tool in dealing with Russia's actions in Ukraine, according to Reuters.
Republican Senator John McCain from Arizona said he backed sanctions but Ukraine also needed intelligence data and weapons, Reuters reported.
"For God's sake, can't we help these people defend themselves? This is not an incursion. This is an invasion," McCain told CBS's "Face the Nation" program, according to Reuters. McCain said Russia could threaten Moldova and the Baltics if it was not stopped.
Representative Mike Rogers, the Republican who heads the House Intelligence Committee, said the United States and Europe needed to provide strategic help to Ukraine now to halt what he called Russia's increasingly aggressive actions, Reuters reported.
"If we don't provide 'small and effective' now, you're going to get very big and very ugly later," Rogers said on "Fox News Sunday," according to Reuters. "Now is the opportunity to make that decision and ... not make the same mistake the president made in Syria."
Putin called on Sunday for immediate talks on "statehood" for southern and eastern Ukraine, although his spokesman said this did not mean Moscow now endorsed rebel calls for independence for territory they have seized, Reuters reported.
