[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 21 (Wednesday, February 2, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Page S466]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                                Ukraine

  Mr. President, let me say a word about the Ukrainian situation. I 
feel strongly about this. As the cochair of the bipartisan Ukrainian 
Caucus, I have followed for years what has been going on in that 
country. There is one guiding principle that we should acknowledge: The 
fate and future and decisionmaking for the Ukrainian people should be 
in the hands of the Ukrainian people--not in Washington, not in Moscow, 
not in Bonn, not in Minsk, but in Kyiv, and the Ukrainian people across 
that country should have the right to do it.
  The question about their future and their solidarity and defense 
comes down to the fact that they were invaded 8 years ago by Russia, 
which took over the Crimean province and then went on to expand their 
military force, the little green men--the so-called little green men 
who are just Russian surrogates who are fighting in the eastern part of 
Ukraine.
  Is it any wonder that the Ukrainian people look to NATO and other 
forces to protect them? They have been invaded. For 7 or 8 years, they 
have lost thousands of their citizens innocently, who died in defense 
of their country. For us to stand in defense of Ukraine and their 
efforts to make their own decisions for their future just makes sense.
  Ultimately, we may have theories on what that future should be, but 
it is their country, they are the people who rule it, and we respect 
their sovereignty.
  I would just say that as far as Vladimir Putin is concerned, I know 
his style. I have seen it for a long, long time. We see the continuing 
threats that the Russians have against the Baltics, for example. These 
are small, independent, democratic countries that fought long and hard 
for that opportunity, and they are constantly menaced by Vladimir Putin 
and his Russian forces. The same is true for Poland.
  It is important that we stand behind the NATO alliance, and one way 
to help the NATO alliance is to pass an appropriations bill that would 
give our resources promised to the alliance to them, instead of being 
stonewalled as we have been by the Republican leadership on that 
matter. It is long overdue that we get to that question.