President Volodymyr Zelensky on Aug. 18 signed into law two bills seeking to exempt night vision devices, thermal imaging equipment, and rangefinders from customs duties and value added tax.
congressman, good to see you again. thank you for your time. good to see you, victor. let s start here with this request that came in to nato from ukraine where they re asking for critical items. they re talking machines for radiation, chemical reconnaissance, equipment to search for explosive objects, thermal imaging equipment. it s a long list. should nato supply all of this to ukraine? you ve been critical of the administration and others for their the pace of their support. well, that s right. i think the administration is actually doing all the right things, including getting supplies like this to the ukrainians. but it s a bit late now. it s taken a bit too long. the problem with delivering any supplies to them at the moment, especially technical gear like this and other weapons, is that we don t have time to train the ukrainians on how to use them. you know, we can deliver javelin anti-tank weapons systems but if we don t have troops in-country
something different. they reached out to nato, and said we need immediate assistance. they know they re not getting lethal weapons from nato, they asked for cars, trucks, trains, bulldozers, they asked for machines for radiation and chemical reconnaissance, equipment to search for explos explosive objects, thermal imaging equipment, and 60 self-sustaining field camps, each which would accommodate 300 people. the list goes on and on, it s extensive and very specific. what do you make of it? well, erin, it s alarming. i mean, first of all because some of the stuff you listed is basic. they should have this stuff already. so that s upsetting to me to hear. and then on the other side of it, you mentioned, you know, radiation equipment, explosive ordinance detection, these kinds of equipment that you would use if you re trying to protect yourself or detect russians using weapons of mass destruction, which of course we know that they use in