White House officials have sent night-vision goggles and anti-mortar radar equipment to Ukrainian fighters.

Lawmakers would rather send guns and anti-tank mines.

Members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee lamented the slow U.S. response so far to the fighting in that region, saying the timid steps have allowed Russia to gain the upper hand.

Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., the committee chairman, called the administration's efforts so far "feckless, just feckless."

Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., the panel's senior Democrat, said U.S. officials "keep working on an aspirational basis while Russia works to take more land."

Nearly three months ago, President Obama signed into law the Ukraine Freedom Support Act, which authorized a host of economic sanctions against Russia for its invasion into eastern Ukraine and "defense articles, defense services, and training" to Ukrainian forces in the fight against the Russian advance.

Administration officials were scheduled to report back to lawmakers on potential transfer of weaponry last month, but State and Defense Department officials said that review is still underway.

Brian McKeon, principal deputy undersecretary of defense for policy, told the committee Tuesday that officials still don't have a timeline for when that review will finish, but that the U.S. is "meeting real military needs" of the Ukrainian forces with aid already being provided.

That includes nonlethal items such as the night-vision goggles and defensive radars. About $118 million in equipment has been approved, but only about half of that total has been delivered.

United Nations monitors estimate that more than 6,000 people have been killed in Ukraine since fighting began last April. The White House response — or lack thereof, in the eyes of critics — has been pilloried by conservatives along with the fights in Syria and Iraq as just another in a series of foreign policy failures.

Senators are reviewing the Ukrainian response at the same time they are considering a potential nuclear deal with Iran and Obama's draft defense budget for fiscal 2016, creating a lengthy list of national security fights for a president who just a few months ago was celebrating the end of U.S. combat operations in Afghanistan.

Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs Victoria Nuland told lawmakers that the preferred outcome in Ukraine would be for Russian leaders to fulfill the provisions in recent cease-fire arrangements. But she promised that the U.S. is committed to protecting Ukrainian sovereignty.

The situation "is about far more than protecting the choice of a single European country," she said. "It's about protecting the rules-based system across Europe and globally. It's about saying 'no' to borders changed by force, and to big countries intimidating their neighbors or demanding spheres of influence."

Committee members from both parties dismissed that as tough but empty talk, given the administration's lack of progress on the lethal equipment issues.

A day earlier, committee leaders sent a letter to Obama demanding an end to the weapons transfer review, writing: "Now is the time for the United States to provide Ukraine with the means to defend itself from continued Russian aggression."

Committee members on Tuesday pledged to work closely with White House officials on finding a better response in the region, as well as the host of other foreign policy headaches facing the administration.

Leo covers Congress, Veterans Affairs and the White House for Military Times. He has covered Washington, D.C. since 2004, focusing on military personnel and veterans policies. His work has earned numerous honors, including a 2009 Polk award, a 2010 National Headliner Award, the IAVA Leadership in Journalism award and the VFW News Media award.

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