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Floor Speech
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Mr. WELCH. Mr. President, 4 years ago, on February 4, 2022, Vladimir Putin initiated his full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The question that Ukraine faced then was this: Could they defend themselves? Could Ukraine hold against a far more powerful enemy?
Most thought the answer to that was no, including our own Central Intelligence Agency that predicted that Kyiv would fall in a matter of weeks.
The questions the United States faced at that time were: Would we choose, the United States of America, to aid a sovereign country that was defending itself from a brutal attack by an aggressor? Would the United States remain steadfast with our European allies in defending a world where borders cannot be changed by force, where nations do not invade and seize territory of their weaker neighbors, and where might does not make right?
Nearly 4 years later, we face the same question today. We faced that question within those 4 years. We have seen the bravery, the resilience, and the effectiveness of the Ukrainian people who are standing up to the Putin aggression. What Ukraine has done is create the largest army in Europe. With approximately 1 million in arms, what the Ukrainians have done is build a remarkably adaptive military fighting machine with innovation that would rival Silicon Valley. Long- range Ukrainian-designed drones and cruise missiles are now striking thousands of miles into Russia against oil facilities and strategic air force bases. Ukrainians have changed naval warfare. With their stealthy naval drones, they have pushed the feared Russian Navy out of Crimea.
Ukraine is now producing close to 100 percent of its own drones. More than 200 new homegrown Ukrainian tech startups are producing millions of drones annually, all while they are being bombarded by Russia.
Also, we have seen in those 4 years that our European allies have stood strong and rallied to help Ukraine. In many cases, the European countries together, on a per capita basis, have contributed more to Ukraine than even the United States. While it is true that the United States has been, by far, the largest single nation contributor, Europe overall, our allies, have contributed more in both military aid and financial aid.
Even our own defense has benefited. We have now two new allies in NATO, Sweden and Finland--also, the contributions of our allies. Denmark gave Ukraine advanced F-16s that are shooting down Russian drones and cruise missiles. Italy gave Ukraine critical air defense missiles and artillery systems. Greece is contributing to regional economic integration by signing an agreement just last month to supply American LNG to Ukraine. These are just a few of the coordinated actions taken by the United States and its allies.
On the other hand, when we see what Russia has done, what Putin has done, we see that Putin's war plan is to directly target civilians, including innocent women and children, and send soldiers into the meat grinder of certain death where there have been, by many reports, over a million casualties.
Last week, Putin launched over 600 drones against civilians in Kyiv on a single night, and the objective was to kill civilians, especially women and children. Not since the Blitz of London in 1940 has a European capital faced such a ruthless campaign of airborne terror that was directed at civilians.
Next to me here is a photograph of the graves of three children from a single family who were killed by Putin's campaign of terror. These kids were among the more than 600 Ukrainian children who were killed recently by Russian strikes. Three graves. Parents, neighbors--everyone knows that their kids could be next.
On this question of the United States coming to the aid of Ukraine, I want to acknowledge the leadership of many of my Republican colleagues, especially Senator McConnell, who stood firmly and immediately in favor of protecting Ukraine and standing up for American principles; Senator Wicker, our Armed Services Committee chair; and others, a few of whom I mentioned.
It was under Republican leadership and support that the Senate passed the Ukraine Invasion War Crimes Deterrence and Accountability Act into law. And that law states explicitly that it is ``under the direction of President Putin'' that the Russian military has committed war crimes, including targeting of civilians, killing noncombatants, deportation of civilians, and hostage-taking.
Recently, it was reported that the Russians have made some incremental gains in the past few months. But the reality is that the Russian troops are creeping forward at the cost of thousands of Russian casualties. According to some reports, Russia has suffered up to a million casualties in the Ukrainian battlefield.
Putin is completely indifferent to the suffering of his own people and the violence he is inflicting on innocent people in Ukraine. And after the thousands of Iranian drones launched every week by Russia at Ukrainian civilians, they don't really point to military effectiveness. They point to military desperation on the part of Russia.
Ineffective on the battlefield, the Putin war plan is to target civilians and try to wear down Ukraine's morale. But I can tell you, last week, I was on a bipartisan delegation led by Senator Rounds and Senator Shaheen at the Halifax Security Conference, and we heard directly from Ukrainian members of Parliament. They are fighting. It is hard, but they are not giving up. The question before us is not whether Ukraine will persevere; it is whether the U.S. support will persevere.
I believe--I think many of us in this body believe--that we must stand firm against Putin and his lawless aggression. And if he is successful in Ukraine, he will be emboldened to continue his march through Moldova and America's Baltic and Nordic allies on Russia's borders: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Finland, Sweden, and Norway.
Some asked if can we afford to continue to support Ukraine. My view: We can't afford not to. But also, when you look at the economic cost, which is real, it is modest. It is about 0.2 percent of our gross domestic product. Is that such a large amount of money that we can't invest it for the security of our country and our allies in Western Europe, which we fought for in World War II?
The question before this U.S. Senate right now is not whether Ukraine is going to hang in there and fight. They proved again and again that they will hang in and fight. If Ukraine won't falter in that fight, the United States must also persevere.
In addition to us continuing our support, there are three pieces of legislation that we could take up on this floor that would make a significant difference right away: No. 1 is the bill led by Senator Graham and Senator Blumenthal. It has 85 cosponsors, and it would impose sanctions to stop customers like India and China and Brazil from buying Russian oil. And the argument Senator Graham makes that I think is very compelling is, you go after the customers, and you squeeze the finances of the Russian war machine. We have 85 cosponsors. Let's take it up, and let's pass it.
The second bill--the State Sponsor of Terrorism bill designation for Russia--is related to the fact that Russia did something that is absolutely unconscionable: They kidnapped children. Over 20,000 kids have been taken hostage and delivered to other families in the occupied territories and in Russia itself. That is so unimaginable. Let's go at that directly.
Third, let's take up legislation here similar to legislation pending in Europe where Russian assets--about $5 billion in this country, about $300 million in the European Union--are seized and are used for the reconstruction of Ukraine since the aggressor, Russia, is the acting party that did all that damage.
I believe we must renew our commitment to the Ukrainian people. I believe we must stay the course. This year, we are celebrating the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, when the United States advanced a foreign policy principle that borders cannot be changed by force. We have seen decades of unprecedented prosperity, and we have seen decades without another World War conflagration.
We have an opportunity today to stand up and protect that legacy for this century by recommitting to the Ukrainian people that we will stand in support of that principle, in support of their freedom, and in support of our security.
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