Josh Hawley says Russia's invasion of Ukraine must be 'met with strong American resolve'

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) has released a statement on Thursday calling for immediate US support and intervention on the side of Ukraine, as Russian troops invade their neighboring country.

Missouri GOP senator Josh Hawley calls for arming Ukraine and sanctioning Russia: "Russia’s brutal assault on Ukraine and invasion of its territory must be met with strong American resolve," reads the tweet by John McCormack, the Washington correspondent and fellow of the National Review Institute:

Below that was pasted Howley's statement, urging the Biden administration to act on Ukraine's behalf:

"Russia’s brutal assault on Ukraine and invasion of its territory must be met with strong American resolve. President Biden must act now to hit Vladimir Putin where it hurts, beginning with Russia’s energy sector."

Howley described exactly what he thinks needs to be done immediately by US authorities:

"The Biden Administration should sanction Russian energy production to a halt, and help arm Ukrainians to defend themselves At the same time, the White House should reopen American energy production in full."

The statement concludes with, "This is the time to show Russia and the world that America will not reward aggression and it will not be dependent on its enemies."

McCormack then refers to a Politico article in his next tweet, in which it is stated that "the majority of congressional Republicans are backing Biden’s vow to impose crushing sanctions on Russia after its troops entered eastern Ukraine on Tuesday."

Standing against Sen. Howley, however, are others, such as Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC.) Graham told the media that sanctions are, in his opinion, the way to go in this case:

"I think a vast majority of our conference is in the ‘don’t let Putin get away with it’ camp."

"To allow Putin to get away with the destruction of Ukraine and to think it won’t affect China is naive."

NATO defense plans have been operated in the wake of the Russian invasion. However, Ukraine is not a NATO member state. As such, there is no mutual defense deal in place.