CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WSAZ) – U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., did not mince words. He called this week’s Russian invasion a war on Ukraine.
“This is a full-blown attack on a sovereign country by an aggressor without being provocated,” he said at a press conference Thursday. “Just ridiculous. Absolutely unheard of and absolutely unacceptable.”
Stocks were volatile Thursday as was the price of wheat and oil.
Nationally, the AAA said the price of gasoline increased nearly a penny from Wednesday, and it could go much higher. AAA predicts Russia could limit oil exports to retaliate against sanctions.
U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., worries that will make rising inflation at home even worse. She said Wednesday such a consequence would be unnecessary.
“That’s terrible to the pocketbooks of West Virginians,” she said. “I think we need to open up our own domestic resources more. We know this administration is clamping down on pipelines and on drilling on federal lands. You know, we can be energy independent here and we should be. So this shouldn’t have any impact on us.”
Both senators support aggressive sanctions, although Capito said they should have been implemented sooner. Both also oppose U.S. boots on the ground inside Ukraine.
Manchin said any release from oil reserves in the U.S. would be a temporary fix.
“What we need to do is be producing more,” he said. “We have throttled back production in the United States in the last 12 to 15 months or so. That needs to change immediately. We’ve prevented people from drilling. We’ve stopped all drilling. We stopped the Keystone pipeline. We stopped things that we need in our country and the world depends upon us. We do it better than better and cleaner than anybody else in the world.”
Both senators called for unity Thursday, explaining it is crucial for the United States to stand with its allies.