Rep. Adam Kinzinger, a Republican from Illinois, announced on Sunday that he will introduce a resolution authorizing the use of military force should Russia deploy “chemical, biological and/or nuclear weapons” in Ukraine. Kinzinger has continuously pushed for US involvement in the ongoing conflict, and previously backed measures that critics and President Biden said would lead to a “third world war.”
Kinzinger’s resolution would authorize the president to use the American military to “assist in defending and restoring the territorial integrity of Ukraine,” in response to a hypothetical Russian use of chemical, biological or nuclear weapons on Ukrainian soil.
The resolution would give the president sole authority to determine whether such aggression by Russia had actually taken place, without requiring any international investigation. Accordingly, it could incentivize Ukrainian forces to stage such an attack in the hopes of drawing the US into the conflict, as commanders in Moscow have accused Kiev of planning.
As an Authorization for the Use of Military Force, or AUMF, the resolution would function like the post-9/11 AUMF that has been renewed every year since 2001. This authorization has given US presidents legal clearance to attack more than a dozen countries since 9/11, including Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Somalia and Yemen, without a formal declaration of war.