Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, predicted on Friday that Russian forces would move into Ukraine within the next month, citing U.S. intelligence indicating President Vladimir Putin is eyeing a "very aggressive timetable," Fox News reported.
McCaul, the ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said in a statement to the network that he was unimpressed with the Biden administration's current response to Russian aggression in the region.
"The key to addressing Russian aggression is deterrence," McCaul said. "This administration has done far too little to deter Russia from further invading Ukraine, which is why I introduced the GUARD Act. This bill expedites significant additional lethal assistance to Ukraine and immediately sanctions Putin's malign influence project, the Nord Stream 2 pipeline."
"Slow rolling this type of assistance and support as Kyiv sits at the epicenter of what could be the biggest conflict since World War II is absolutely unacceptable," he added.
The House is currently advancing legislation, authored by Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., to sanction Russia and authorize $500 million in supplemental emergency security assistance to Ukraine, according to Fox News.
"Russia's continued troop buildup, both on the border of Ukraine and in Belarus, is an act of aggression that is as reckless as it is alarming," Meeks said in a statement on Friday.
"While I remain hopeful that diplomacy can de-escalate tensions on the Ukrainian border, it is necessary that the United States, together with our transatlantic allies, make clear that any activities constituting an invasion by the Russian army into sovereign territory will be met with significant repercussions."