​Republican House leader Kevin McCarthy suggested Sunday that Russian President Vladimir Putin would “probably” have backed off invading Ukraine if President Biden had shipped military equipment to Kyiv earlier.

McCarthy, part of a delegation of bipartisan House members who traveled to Poland amid the war earlier this month, said he saw firsthand the “fortitude” of the Ukrainian people and the “devastation” that Russia is causing in Ukraine, even targeting women and children.

“This is going to get stronger and rougher, and what really needs to happen is Ukraine is not asking for American men and women to fight. All they’re asking for is the weapons to defend themselves,” the California Republican said on “Fox News Sunday.”

“If we would have taken those actions earlier instead of waiting until after Russia invaded, they probably never would have invaded, had we done that sooner,” he said.

Fox News Washington correspondent Mike Emanuel pointed out that the Biden administration last week announced it was delivering $800 million in additional military assistance to Ukraine — totaling $2.6 billion — and asked what more the administration should be doing.

McCarthy said he doesn’t believe that Putin feared the sanctions Biden and US allies threatened to impose on Russia before its Feb. 24 invasion.

“Ukraine was craving the ability to defend themselves. Had we moved the weapons to Ukraine earlier, that they could defend themselves, it would have saved thousands of lives and probably the decision of Putin not to enter,” McCarthy told Emanuel.

“And then after Putin entered, we had President Biden tell us, ‘Well, the sanctions take a long time to work,’ ” McCarthy said.

The House GOPer also ripped Biden for refusing to protect Ukrainian airspace with a NATO no-fly zone and turning down an offer from Poland to ship Soviet-era MiG-29 fighter jets to the US air base in Ramstein, Germany, so that the US could transport them to Ukraine.

The Biden administration has said it rejected the moves because they could lead to an escalation of the war.​

McCarthy said the episode involving the MiG fighters ​presents a learning experience for the US in dealing with a threat on another side of the world. 

“What we need to do is learn from here, provide the weapons to Ukraine, but also look to the future of what China is doing,” he said. “Taiwan has been waiting more than a year for weapons they’ve already purchased to defend themselves. Let democracies defend themselves.”

China believes that Taiwan, which is democratically governed, is a part of its territory and has condemned arms sales to it from the US. Beijing has vowed to one day reunify Taiwan — by force, if necessary — and has ramped up its military presence in the South China Sea.

The State Department earlier this month approved a potential sale of $95 million worth of military equipment to Taiwan — the third arms package since the Biden administration took office in January 2021, according to the Defense Security Cooperation Agency.