The U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution on Monday night asking President Obama to send lethal arms to Ukraine, media said.

Representatives endorsed the resolution in a 348 to 48 vote, and such a proposal is also likely to enjoy widespread support in the Senate.

Monday's measure urges Obama to provide Ukraine with "lethal defensive weapon systems" that would enhance Ukraine's ability to "defend their sovereign territory from the unprovoked and continuing aggression of the Russian Federation."

House Speaker John Boehner described the vote as a call to action, and said Congress broadly supports more military aid.

House Democrat Eliot Engel, the lead sponsor of the resolution, told colleagues it was time to stop treating the Ukraine crisis "as just some faraway conflict."

"This war has left thousands of dead, tens of thousands wounded, a million displaced, and has begun to threaten the post-Cold War stability of Europe," Engel said, adding that Russian President Vladimir Putin is "knocking us back into... the bad old days of the Cold War.