copenlu/druid huggingface dataset:
Claim: “The weapons that Ukraine used in the early days of this war to fend off the Russian invasion are the weapons that Donald Trump sent, that Barack Obama and Joe Biden had refused to send.” (Tom Cotton, 2024-06-16)
Evidence (2022-02-24): Russia has launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, leaving millions of people fearing for their futures. [...] From the early panic in Ukraine's cities, to the broader context that led us here, this is your guide to understanding day one of the invasion. [...] UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson described the invasion as a "hideous and barbarous venture". US President Joe Biden said "Putin chose this war" and would "bear the consequences".
Claim: “The weapons that Ukraine used in the early days of this war to fend off the Russian invasion are the weapons that Donald Trump sent, that Barack Obama and Joe Biden had refused to send.” (Tom Cotton, 2024-06-16)
Evidence (2023-05-15): By contrast, the US-supplied Himars missiles used by Ukraine only have a range of around 80 km (50 miles). [...] The UK has sent more than 5,000 next generation light anti-tank weapons, or Nlaw, to Ukraine. [...] Many analysts believe they had a major impact on the course of the conflict in the days following Russia's invasion.
Claim: “The weapons that Ukraine used in the early days of this war to fend off the Russian invasion are the weapons that Donald Trump sent, that Barack Obama and Joe Biden had refused to send.” (Tom Cotton, 2024-06-16)
Evidence (2024-07-05): Fact check: Did Trump send Ukraine weapons that Obama and Biden withheld? [...] Cotton said that Trump provided "the weapons that Ukraine used in the early days of this war." Russia’s invasion started in February 2022 when Biden was president. [...] Ultimately, both the Trump and Biden administrations sent Ukraine "weapon systems that helped during the 2022 invasion," Janda said.
Claim: “The weapons that Ukraine used in the early days of this war to fend off the Russian invasion are the weapons that Donald Trump sent, that Barack Obama and Joe Biden had refused to send.” (Tom Cotton, 2024-06-16)
Evidence (2023-02-25): This was particularly important in the early days of the war as the Russians tended to stay in columns when trying to enter urban areas. A Javelin operator could fire from a building or behind a tree and be gone before the Russians could fire back. [...] This could be seen in images early in the war of Russian tanks with their turrets blown off. Often, it was a Javelin that had done the damage. [...] "If Javelin was the iconic weapon of the early phases of the war, HIMARS is the iconic weapon of the later phases," Mark Cancian, senior adviser for the International Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International studies, wrote in January.
Claim: “The weapons that Ukraine used in the early days of this war to fend off the Russian invasion are the weapons that Donald Trump sent, that Barack Obama and Joe Biden had refused to send.” (Tom Cotton, 2024-06-16)
Evidence (2024-09-29): Weapons, vehicles and equipment used in the Russo-Ukrainian War, from 2014 to the present, include the following. The war involves the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the Armed Forces of Russia, the People's Militia of the Donetsk People's Republic, the People's Militia of the Luhansk People's Republic, and a number of national guard and volunteer groups. [...] - ^ Satam, Parth (2022-09-27). "Thanks To Trump, Russia Used Its 'Super Eavesdropper' Tu-214R Against Ukrainian Military Facilities". Latest Asian, Middle-East, EurAsian, Indian News. Retrieved 2022-10-31. [...] - Plokšto, Artur; Demeško, Andriej (2017). "Armaments used in the Ukrainian Conflict 2014—2015" (PDF). Security and Defence Quarterly. 15 (2): 54–84. doi:10.35467/sdq/103190. Retrieved 21 May 2023.
Claim: “The weapons that Ukraine used in the early days of this war to fend off the Russian invasion are the weapons that Donald Trump sent, that Barack Obama and Joe Biden had refused to send.” (Tom Cotton, 2024-06-16)
Evidence (2024-04-24): For months, the U.S. resisted sending Ukraine the long-range missiles out of concern that Kyiv could use them to hit deep into Russian territory, enraging Moscow and escalating the conflict. That was a key reason the administration sent the mid-range version, with a range of about 160 kilometers (roughly 100 miles), in October instead. [...] Like many of the other sophisticated weapons systems provided to Ukraine, the administration weighed whether their use would risk further escalating the conflict. The administration is continuing to make clear that the weapons cannot be used to hit targets inside Russia. At the State Department, spokesman Vedant Patel said Wednesday that Biden directed his national security team to send the ATACMS specifying that they be used inside Ukrainian sovereign territory. [...] The U.S. had refused to confirm that the long-range missiles were given to Ukraine until they were actually used on the battlefield and Kyiv leaders approved the public release. One official said the weapons were used early last week to strike the airfield in Dzhankoi, a city in Crimea, a peninsula that Russia seized from Ukraine in 2014. They were used again overnight east of the occupied city of Berdyansk.
Claim: “The weapons that Ukraine used in the early days of this war to fend off the Russian invasion are the weapons that Donald Trump sent, that Barack Obama and Joe Biden had refused to send.” (Tom Cotton, 2024-06-16)
Evidence (2023-01-15): How Ukraine has used its limited supply of HIMARS missiles to wreak havoc on Russian command and control, striking command posts, headquarters and supply depots, has been eye-opening, a defense official said, adding that military leaders would be studying this for years. [...] The Ukrainians have also made tactical innovations that have impressed Western officials. During the early weeks of the war, Ukrainian commanders adapted their operations to employ small teams of dismounted infantry during the Russian advance on Kyiv. Armed with shoulder-mounted Stinger and Javelin rockets, Ukrainian troops were able to sneak up on Russian tanks without infantry on their flanks. [...] In the early days of the conflict, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency sent five lightweight, high-resolution surveillance drones to US Special Operations Command in Europe – just in case they might come in handy in Ukraine. The drones, made by a company called Hexagon, weren’t part of a so-called program of record at the Defense Department, hinting at the experimental nature of the conflict.
Claim: “The weapons that Ukraine used in the early days of this war to fend off the Russian invasion are the weapons that Donald Trump sent, that Barack Obama and Joe Biden had refused to send.” (Tom Cotton, 2024-06-16)
Evidence (2022-04-21): "We're in a critical window now of time where they're going to set the stage for the next phase of this war," Mr Biden said on Wednesday, adding that the weapons are a reflection of "Ukraine's needs" as the war shifts towards the largely flat terrain of Ukraine's eastern Donbas region. [...] Military experts say that the US-supplied anti-tank weapons have been among the most effective weapons in Ukraine's arsenal since the war began. [...] The US has so far been reluctant to send Ukraine US-made tanks, arguing that Ukrainian troops aren't familiar with the vehicles.
Claim: “The weapons that Ukraine used in the early days of this war to fend off the Russian invasion are the weapons that Donald Trump sent, that Barack Obama and Joe Biden had refused to send.” (Tom Cotton, 2024-06-16)
Evidence (2022-03-08): President Joe Biden announced Tuesday his administration would send advanced, longer-range rocket systems to Ukraine to combat Russian forces. Senior administration officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said Tuesday the U.S. would be sending HIMARS (High Mobility Rocket Systems) to Ukraine. The officials said in a call with reporters that Ukrainian officials assured the United States the rockets would only be used to repel Russian forces in Ukraine and not to attack Russian territory. [...] President Biden announced Wednesday $800 million more in military aid to "fend off Russia's assault."
Claim: “The weapons that Ukraine used in the early days of this war to fend off the Russian invasion are the weapons that Donald Trump sent, that Barack Obama and Joe Biden had refused to send.” (Tom Cotton, 2024-06-16)
Evidence (2023-06-30): When Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Ukraine’s military was largely reliant on Soviet-era weaponry, from tanks to artillery to fighter jets. While that arsenal helped Ukraine fend off an assault on the capital of Kyiv and prevent a total rout in the early weeks of the war, billions of dollars in military assistance has since poured into the country, including more modern Western-made weapons. [...] Russia has relied on long-range ballistic and cruise missiles to strike targets deep in Ukraine, avoiding a risk to its warplanes after losing many of them in the initial stages of the invasion. Moscow’s failure to win control of Ukrainian airspace was one of the biggest surprises of the war.
Claim: “The weapons that Ukraine used in the early days of this war to fend off the Russian invasion are the weapons that Donald Trump sent, that Barack Obama and Joe Biden had refused to send.” (Tom Cotton, 2024-06-16)
Evidence (2022-03-10): What weapons are being used in Russia's invasion of Ukraine? What are thermobaric weapons? [...] The Stinger missiles have been credited as a key weapon in helping Ukrainian fend off invading Russian forces. [...] Like the Stinger missiles, the Javelin missiles have been an important part of Ukraine's arsenal against Russian forces.
Claim: “The weapons that Ukraine used in the early days of this war to fend off the Russian invasion are the weapons that Donald Trump sent, that Barack Obama and Joe Biden had refused to send.” (Tom Cotton, 2024-06-16)
Evidence (2024-06-16): Cotton said that Trump provided "the weapons that Ukraine used in the early days of this war." Russia’s invasion started in February 2022 when Biden was president. [...] Ultimately, both the Trump and Biden administrations sent Ukraine "weapon systems that helped during the 2022 invasion," Janda said. [...] Cotton stretches this claim by tying Obama’s policy to Biden, who as president has built on Trump’s assistance and more. Biden’s administration shipped $200 million worth of antiarmor missiles, ammunition and other equipment to Ukraine before Russia’s invasion. The Biden administration also authorized $350 million of military assistance from Defense Department inventories, including antiarmor, small arms, munitions and body armor immediately after the invasion.
Claim: “The weapons that Ukraine used in the early days of this war to fend off the Russian invasion are the weapons that Donald Trump sent, that Barack Obama and Joe Biden had refused to send.” (Tom Cotton, 2024-06-16)
Evidence (2024-05-08): President Joe Biden said for the first time Wednesday he would halt some shipments of American weapons to Israel – which he acknowledged have been used to kill civilians in Gaza – if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu orders a major invasion of the city of Rafah. [...] Biden’s public linking of American weapons shipments to Israel’s conduct could widen a rift between himself and Netanyahu, with whom he spoke by phone on Monday. That conversation came as Israel ordered the evacuation of tens of thousands of civilians from Rafah and launched strikes near border areas of the city. [...] Asked what advice his former boss, President Barack Obama, had provided in their conversations about the race, Biden said it was simply to "keep doing what I’m doing."
Claim: “The weapons that Ukraine used in the early days of this war to fend off the Russian invasion are the weapons that Donald Trump sent, that Barack Obama and Joe Biden had refused to send.” (Tom Cotton, 2024-06-16)
Evidence (2022-03-30): Consider the following quotes. On 24 February, during a White House press conference on the first day of Russia’s invasion, Biden said sanctions are designed not to prevent invasion but to punish Russia after invading "…so the people of Russia know what he has brought on them. That is what this is all about." [...] These statements reflect long-standing US strategy for regime change in Moscow, with Ukraine as the pivot. On one hand, send sufficient military and other equipment to Ukraine to sink the Russian military in a quagmire. On the other hand, impose severe, far-reaching sanctions on Russia so as to cause major disruption to the Russian elite and a major contraction of living conditions for the Russian middle-class. The combination should last long enough for Russians to rise up to overthrow Putin and install a Yeltsin-like President more sympathetic to the West. [...] Scroll forward to December 2021. The Kremlin presented treaty proposals, which included implementation of the eight-year old Minsk peace accords (which include a commitment that Ukraine not join Nato); dissolving extreme right Ukrainian militias; and engaging in serious negotiations about a new security architecture in Europe. The US and Nato consistently refused to negotiate. As they refused, they also warned the world, from December 2021 onwards, that Russia would invade. And they transferred huge quantities of weapons and trained the Ukrainian military.
Claim: “The weapons that Ukraine used in the early days of this war to fend off the Russian invasion are the weapons that Donald Trump sent, that Barack Obama and Joe Biden had refused to send.” (Tom Cotton, 2024-06-16)
Evidence (2024-06-05): From the start of this war (at least from when the U.S. started to send Ukraine billions of dollars’ worth of weapons in response to Putin’s invasion in February 2024), Biden has drawn a very solid red line against sending American or NATO armed forces to fight the war directly. Doing so, he said several times, would mean the start of World War III—and, vital as it was to help Ukraine stave off Russian aggression, it wasn’t vital enough to risk a global conflict quite that cataclysmic. [...] In any case, the strategic situation has now changed. When Biden and other leaders first put limits on what kinds of weapons to send Ukraine, or on how Ukraine should use them, the concern was that Putin might widen or escalate the war if it seemed that Ukraine was about to win. (There were times in the war’s first year, after Ukraine repelled the Russian invaders and pushed them back, when people thought this might be possible.)
Claim: “The weapons that Ukraine used in the early days of this war to fend off the Russian invasion are the weapons that Donald Trump sent, that Barack Obama and Joe Biden had refused to send.” (Tom Cotton, 2024-06-16)
Evidence (2023-10-16): Instead, Ukraine defied expectations and held off Russia’s assault on Kyiv. The White House was suddenly improvising a strategy for a long war. But Putin’s increasingly explicit nuclear sabre-rattling meant that the early months of the conflict were spent in arguments over what might or might not cross Russia’s red line. In the spring of 2022, a debate raged in Washington over whether to give Ukraine the precision medium-range missile system known as HIMARS. When Nancy Pelosi, the House Speaker, led a congressional delegation to Kyiv to meet with Zelensky, the Ukrainian President’s "main ask" was for the HIMARS, according to Jason Crow, a House Democrat and a military veteran. Eventually, Biden approved the delivery, with the proviso that the HIMARS not be used to hit targets inside Russia. "I felt like we dragged our feet," a Democratic senator told me. Ukraine, meanwhile, moved on to the next items on its list. Arguments ensued over tanks, F-16 fighter jets, and longer-range missiles known as ATACMS. [...] In September, shortly before Zelensky made his second visit to Washington since the invasion, Biden approved sending ATACMS to Ukraine, after nearly a year of resisting the idea. American officials, meanwhile, have held two rounds of formal negotiations with Ukraine over the terms of a memorandum of understanding—Sullivan’s "Israel model." With Trump barrelling toward the Republican nomination, however, the political support that had once seemed so strong and bipartisan for Ukraine in Washington has been quickly eroding.
Claim: “The weapons that Ukraine used in the early days of this war to fend off the Russian invasion are the weapons that Donald Trump sent, that Barack Obama and Joe Biden had refused to send.” (Tom Cotton, 2024-06-16)
Evidence (2023-12-07): Senator Graham - who recently referred to Russia's invasion of Ukraine as "barbaric" - said he was "encouraged" by the comments. [...] These members of a growing isolationist wing of the Republican party appear motivated by Donald Trump. The former president has repeatedly questioned aid to Ukraine and refused to commit to supporting Kyiv. [...] "Quite frankly, Donald Trump is opposed to anything that President Biden is in favour of and that would be beneficial to the Biden presidency," Glenn Altschuler, a professor of American Studies at Cornell University, said.
Claim: “The weapons that Ukraine used in the early days of this war to fend off the Russian invasion are the weapons that Donald Trump sent, that Barack Obama and Joe Biden had refused to send.” (Tom Cotton, 2024-06-16)
Evidence (2024-09-18): At the gathering of Ukrainian leaders and U.S. and European policymakers, called the Yalta European Strategy, over the weekend, Ukrainian leaders pushed the military and moral argument. We, they said, have to defend ourselves against a Russian escalation of drone and missile attacks launched from across the border. Also, it’s always good to make the Kremlin worry more about what else Ukraine will — and can — do to bring the war to Russia. Ukraine used Western-supplied missiles to push back Russian forces from Crimea, the Ukrainian region annexed by Russia where Kyiv isn’t prevented from using them. Ukraine already strikes deep in Russia with drones and is developing its own missiles.
Claim: “The weapons that Ukraine used in the early days of this war to fend off the Russian invasion are the weapons that Donald Trump sent, that Barack Obama and Joe Biden had refused to send.” (Tom Cotton, 2024-06-16)
Evidence (2023-03-14): "A couple years ago, Obama was refusing to provide lethal aid to Ukraine, they were trying to do a reset. The Democrats lauded that. They viewed guys like me who are more of the (Ronald) Reagan school that’s tough on Russia as kind of throwbacks to the Cold War. They criticized Mitt Romney in 2012. Now all of a sudden, because they’re using it against Trump, they’re so concerned about Russia. I think we should be concerned about them, but I think a lot of this stuff has reaped the politics from the day that election happened." [...] DeSantis refused to comment on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year until it was five days in. When he did, he praised Ukrainian leadership. At the time, he said President Biden needed to act tougher and bring sanctions against Putin and Russia. [...] "And yet, when I was in Congress when Obama was President, Obama refused to send weapons to Ukraine. When Trump was President, we sent weapons to Ukraine. Putin didn’t like that very much. When Obama was President, Putin took Crimea. When Trump was President, they didn’t take anything. And now Biden’s President and they’re rolling into Ukraine."
Claim: “The weapons that Ukraine used in the early days of this war to fend off the Russian invasion are the weapons that Donald Trump sent, that Barack Obama and Joe Biden had refused to send.” (Tom Cotton, 2024-06-16)
Evidence (2024-02-21): Although rational calculations of power ought to dictate Russian aversion to expanding the war from a trajectory of losing to Ukraine to one of more rapidly and decisively losing should the United States become a direct combatant, the Biden team’s policy is predicated on concerns that uncontrollable escalation could result from U.S. assistance to Ukraine. To avoid an accidental war with Russia, the Biden administration has defended the international order by timidly progressing from declining before and in the early stages of the invasion to provide weapons to Ukraine because they would quickly end up in Russian hands if Russia won as expected, to refusing to provide "offensive weapons," to providing "offensive weapons" but not those that could reach Russian territory, to providing weapons that could reach Russian territory but making Ukraine promise not to use them at those ranges, to allowing Ukraine to target Russian forces in Crimea, to providing tanks and training in the United States.[4] Out of concern the United States could unavoidably be drawn into direct combat against Russia, the strongest power in the international order is conveying the limits of its interest to a violent transgressor losing a war against a lesser power.
Claim: “The weapons that Ukraine used in the early days of this war to fend off the Russian invasion are the weapons that Donald Trump sent, that Barack Obama and Joe Biden had refused to send.” (Tom Cotton, 2024-06-16)
Evidence (2022-02-23): Decisions by American presidents of both parties set the stage. President Barack Obama declined to provide any lethal aid after Crimea fell in 2014, rejecting the recommendations of his most senior national security officials. President Donald Trump signed off on the provision of Javelin anti-tank missiles only after delaying the aid package in an act that led to his impeachment. He didn’t provide air defense. The Biden administration has been accused of being slow to act as well. By the time U.S. intelligence agencies concluded six months ago that Russia was planning for a possible invasion, there wasn’t enough time to train the Ukrainians to operate sophisticated air defenses such as Patriot missiles, Stavridis said. [...] After this story was published, an NSC spokesman said this account is "false." The spokesman, Sean Savett, also said the NSC disputes that the Biden administration resisted supplying air defense weapons to Ukraine.
Claim: “The weapons that Ukraine used in the early days of this war to fend off the Russian invasion are the weapons that Donald Trump sent, that Barack Obama and Joe Biden had refused to send.” (Tom Cotton, 2024-06-16)
Evidence (2023-02-20): This created the central failure of U.S. policy. Refusing to send sophisticated weapons to Ukraine failed to signal to Russian leaders that an invasion of Ukraine would hurt—and potentially even fail. [...] Even though Trump begrudgingly allowed the Javelins and more aid, his administration was unwilling to send a general officer to serve as the senior defense official in Ukraine. The Obama administration had appointed retired Gen. John Abizaid to be the senior defense advisor to Ukraine, but he was only a part-time consultant and no longer on active duty. Abizaid supported assigning an active-duty general to Ukraine to coordinate the U.S. effort and made this known to U.S. European Command and the Defense Department. The response was that the U.S. military did not have a general it could dedicate to the mission. [...] The poor signaling only continued with the Biden administration. Even as it became clearer that Russia was considering an attack, the United States drastically limited the supply of weapons that it provided to Ukraine. In November 2021, U.S. officials snubbed Ukrainian requests for shoulder-fired Stinger anti-aircraft missiles—a purely defensive weapon.