CHICAGO (NewsNation) — Calls for Western aid have been persistent as Ukraine endures its third week of attacks from Russia. As countries respond, however, one Army veteran says maybe it’s time everyone kept their mouths shut.
“We’ve been very public about all the materials that are flying across the border coming into Ukraine to support their effort, but maybe we should stop talking about it,” Mike Rogers, a veteran who also represented Michigan’s 8th congressional district, told “The Donlon Report” on Monday.
Rogers, who chaired the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence from 2011 to 2015, believes Russian President Vladimir Putin is targeting those supplies, and the places they’re stored.
Sunday, 35 people were killed and more than 130 were wounded in an attack on the military training base near Yavoriv, which is less than 15 miles from the Polish border. The base, known as The International Peacekeeping Center, has long been used to train Ukrainian military personnel.
But some believe the attack so close to a NATO country had a deeper meaning than disrupting logistics.
NewsNation’s own Leland Vittert, who spent time reporting from within Ukraine in 2014, said during an appearance on “Morning in America” that “Vladimir Putin would like nothing more than for NATO to get involved in some way or for him to have some kind of excuse to make this about Russia versus NATO.”
“That would play a whole lot better back home, where this war is becoming increasingly unpopular,” he continued.
Rogers believes Putin wanted the Western world to know that if supplies are going to be sent in, the Russian army will destroy them, which is why the congressman says silence is golden.
“I say, maybe it’s time to have the shut-up phase about what we’re doing with Ukraine,” Rogers said. “Because he’s going to look at them as targets of opportunity and I think that’s exactly what he was trying to demonstrate.”
But Rodgers still wants the West to get Ukraine all the supplies it needs.
“Give them everything. Clamp down on the sanctions as fast as you can. Stop talking about it. Give them anti-aircraft and anti-missile technology, so at least they have a fighting chance,” he said.