[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 29 (Monday, February 14, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S668-S671]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                                Ukraine

  Mr. PORTMAN. Madam President, I come to the floor tonight with my 
colleague from New Hampshire, Senator Jeanne Shaheen, to discuss the 
critical situation in Ukraine.
  Ukraine is an independent country. It is a democracy. It is an ally 
of ours. It is a country that is currently under siege. There is a 
threat of invasion by Russia that grows every single day.
  Right now, there are more than 130,000 Russian troops under the 
command of 100 tactical groups surrounding Ukraine. This Russian 
deployment includes nuclear-capable missiles, rockets, tanks, and 
artillery, and it is no longer just on the eastern border of Ukraine, 
where there has been activity before, as we will discuss, but now on 
the northern border, where Russian combat troops and heavy equipment 
have moved into the country of Belarus and also in Crimea. 
Additionally, Russia has now deployed amphibious assault ships and 
other ships into the Black Sea, to the south, and has positioned its S-
400 missile defense systems, which could stop flights into Ukraine.
  So from the east, from the north, and from the south, Ukraine is 
facing this threat. News accounts say additional equipment is actually 
being moved to the Ukrainian border, not being pulled away.
  While there are differing views on whether Russia has made the final 
decision as to whether to invade or not, there is no question that they 
have now amassed the capability needed to conduct a full-scale invasion 
of Ukraine.
  Let's not forget that Russia has invaded Ukraine twice in the past 8 
years, illegally annexing Crimea and inserting troops and offensive 
military equipment into the Donbas region in the east.
  They have also targeted cyber attacks against public and private 
entities in Ukraine and continue to use information to try to 
destabilize the democratically elected Government of Ukraine.
  By the way, Ukrainians have lost about 14,000 citizens in the last 5 
years at the hands of the Russians--14,000--fathers, brothers. That 
would be, as a percentage of our population, like the United States 
losing about 115,000 people. That is more than we lost in Vietnam and 
Korea combined--actually, Vietnam, Korea, Iraq, and Afghanistan 
combined. Think how we would feel.
  And let's not forget that Russia continues, day by day, to conduct 
this low-grade but serious war against Ukraine.
  We all hope that instead of an invasion, Russia chooses a diplomatic 
end to this current crisis, but we had better treat this threat of an 
invasion as a very real and serious possibility. Doing anything else 
would be irresponsible, given the massive mobilization and the past 
malign behavior.
  And all freedom-loving countries have an interest here. Ukraine is 
where the cause of freedom is under siege today in our generation.
  Eight years ago, Ukrainians made a very deliberate choice. They stood 
up to a corrupt Russian-backed government, and they turned to the West, 
to the European Union, to America. They said that they wanted to be 
like us.
  I was in Ukraine in 2014 shortly after what is called the 
``Euromaidan,'' the revolution of dignity. The barricades

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were still there in the center of town. The Maidan is a square that was 
still occupied by Ukrainian patriots. They sat there in makeshift tents 
in the cold because they believed that their hard-won freedom was worth 
defending.
  And they did defend it. In the protests against the Russian-backed 
government, they lost 100 Ukrainian citizens by the security forces of 
the Russian-backed government. These individuals were called the 
``Heavenly Hundred,'' and they are still honored today by memorials at 
the Maidan. Their freedom came at a high price, and they were willing 
to defend it then, as they are today.
  I was there as an election observer with other American and European 
officials, mostly parliamentarians from Europe, and we witnessed a fair 
and robust Presidential election with a huge turnout. I saw their 
patriotism and national pride.
  The Ukrainian people are proud and consider themselves Ukrainian, not 
Russian. They have been a free and independent country for 30 years, 
and since the protests in 2014, they have been on a track toward a 
Western-focused democracy and a free-market economy. It is their choice 
to be free and independent, and no country--no country--has the right 
to take that away from them.
  I also want to highlight a change since 2014, and that is in the 
proficiency of the Ukrainian military and the great tragedy that would 
result from an illegal invasion of Ukraine. The Ukrainian military will 
stand up, and they are ready. The military of today is a professional 
force that has been fighting this low-grade war with Russia for the 
past 8 years. It is not the military they had in 2014. They are, 
instead, battle hardened today. And thanks to the United States and our 
allies, including many NATO allies, they are better trained and better 
equipped than ever before.
  I have been to the line of contact in the Donbas region--the line of 
contact, which is where the Russian troops are on one side and the 
Ukrainian troops are on the other, firing back and forth periodically. 
I have seen these troops from Ukraine. They are tough. They know how to 
fight, and they will fight to defend their country.
  And Ukraine is a big country. It is a nation of 418 million people. 
In the capital city of Kyiv, there are almost 3 million people. Think 
about the humanitarian disaster that will ensue if there is an 
invasion--millions of innocent civilians displaced from their homes in 
the dead of a Ukrainian winter, fleeing desperately for safety, while 
fighting rages around them. This is not a sight anybody wants to see.
  By the way, the blood of these innocents will be on the hands of the 
Russians.
  And there will be significant Russian casualties as well, and severe 
multilateral sanctions that will be devastating for the Russian economy 
and targeted sanctions that will ensure that the era of Russian 
oligarchs treating the West as their playground while pillaging their 
own country of resources and wealth will be no more.
  In 2014, the Ukrainian people rejected authoritarianism and chose 
instead democracy, freedom of speech, freedom to gather, respect for 
the rule of law, free markets, prosperity. They are not going back.

  Despite Russia's underlying efforts to destabilize Ukraine over the 
past 8 years, the people of Ukraine remain committed to this 
independent, sovereign, and democratic nation. They don't want State 
control, repression, and fear. They instead seek liberty and 
opportunity.
  Moscow would have the world believe that somehow this massive, 
unwarranted Russian buildup is about trying to shore up its border 
against threats from Ukraine and NATO. This is, of course, patently 
false and should be rejected out of hand by America and its many 
allies. Ukraine's military posture has always been defensive. They just 
want to be left alone. And unlike Russia, Ukraine has upheld its 
commitments under the Minsk agreements, which were designed to ensure a 
ceasefire in the Donbas region. NATO is defensive and is no threat to 
Russian territorial integrity.
  It is important to note that Ukraine is not asking for us to fight 
this war for them. They are asking us for increased lethal military 
assistance to help them defend themselves should Russia make a mistake 
and invade Ukraine again. And they are asking all of us to abide by 
commitments we have made. In 1994, after the Berlin Wall came down, 
Ukraine signed what is called the Budapest Memorandum. It was a treaty 
where Ukraine agreed to give up its nuclear weapons in exchange for 
security guarantees from Russia, the United States, and the United 
Kingdom; that we would all respect the independence and sovereignty of 
Ukraine and refrain from the threat or the use of force against 
Ukraine. These are commitments that must be honored.
  I know there is a lot that our country and this Congress are divided 
over today, and we see it played out on the floor and in the media 
constantly. But I will tell you, Republicans and Democrats alike are 
united in backing Ukraine in this crisis. That is why it is so 
important that my colleague from New Hampshire is on the floor with me 
today. She has been a stalwart. We traveled to Ukraine 2 weeks ago and 
had the opportunity to meet with the leading officials there, including 
President Zelenskyy, but also talked to the Ukrainian people. And we 
let them know that on a bipartisan basis we support Ukraine. We have a 
bipartisan consensus on the broad structure of sanctions and an aid 
package for Ukraine.
  The sanctions, by the way, would cripple the Russian economy. We have 
some disagreement perhaps over preinvasion or postinvasion sanctions 
and how much on each, but we agree on sanctions.
  We also agree on assisting Ukraine with further and much needed 
support: defense against cyber attacks, as an example, that the 
Russians are already conducting--and we expect more to come--and 
disinformation attacks coming from Russia. We agree, Republicans and 
Democrats alike, not just on sanctions but providing more support to 
Ukraine for these critical areas. And of course we agreed on providing 
more military assistance to Ukraine so they can defend themselves.
  We have come to a consensus on these issues. What we now need is for 
all of us to work together, including the White House, to ensure that 
we can step forward and put legislation or a resolution on the floor to 
ensure that we are doing whatever we possibly can to make it clear what 
the consequences will be to act as a deterrent to Russia from making a 
terrible mistake.
  This is a critical time for us to act and to lead. It is time for us 
and the Congress and for this government to speak with one voice. 
Freedom in Eastern Europe depends on it but so does the cause of 
freedom all around the world.
  I now yield to my colleague from New Hampshire Senator Shaheen.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New Hampshire.
  Mrs. SHAHEEN. Madam President, I couldn't agree more with the 
comments of my colleague Senator Portman from Ohio.
  We are here on the floor today to convey strong bipartisan opposition 
that exists in this Senate to Vladimir Putin's unprovoked aggression 
against our partner Ukraine.
  Now, like everyone in this body, I have been closely following the 
deteriorating political crisis that has been fabricated by Russia 
because, as Senator Portman says, Ukraine has always been defensive. It 
has not been offensive going against Russia, but Russia intends to 
further undermine and threaten Ukraine's sovereignty.
  This Senate has a long history of supporting an independent and 
democratic Ukraine. Since Russia's initial invasion in 2014, Congress 
has provided more than $2.7 billion in security assistance and 
supported its government in advancing critical reforms to help Ukraine 
on its journey to greater Euro-Atlantic integration.
  I am proud to have been involved in a number of those bipartisan 
efforts to support Ukraine. As Senator Portman said, last month, we 
traveled with a bipartisan delegation of seven Senators--four Democrats 
and three Republicans--to meet with Ukrainian President Zelenskyy and 
other officials. We met with his national security team to discuss the 
Russian threat and how the United States can help our Ukrainian 
friends.
  The message from the Ukrainians was clear. They see their future in

[[Page S670]]

partnership with the West. They share our democratic values, and their 
people are proud of their hard-won independence.
  So it is worth asking, if Ukraine has made its sovereign wish clear 
that it wants a future with Europe, why does Putin have more than 
130,000 troops at its border?
  As Senator Portman pointed out so well, it is not just its eastern 
border with Russia; it is its northern border with Belarus. So it has 
been said--but I think it is worth repeating--that this unprecedented 
Russian threat to Ukraine's sovereignty is on Putin. It is on no one 
else. He has designed this crisis to advance his own revanchist agenda. 
He wants to reconstruct the Soviet Union and recreate his own sphere of 
interest, and he wrongfully sees Ukraine as part of this authoritarian 
future.
  But make no mistake, this isn't just about Ukraine. Putin wants to 
diminish U.S. presence in Europe and to rewrite the European security 
order for his benefit and in blatant disregard for previous 
international agreements and treaties that Russia has signed. Senator 
Portman talked about the Budapest Memorandum. There have been other 
efforts to try and reduce tensions between Russia and Ukraine by 
Europe, but Putin has basically thumbed his nose at all of those 
efforts. He has shown repeated attempts to subvert democratic 
institutions in the United States, to attack our infrastructure, and to 
compromise the sovereignty of our allies around the globe.
  This is why what happens in Ukraine matters here in the United 
States. It is important that we stand up for our values; it is 
important that we stand up to protect our national security; and it is 
critical that we continue to uphold and protect the transatlantic 
security order that has given us peace and prosperity for over 70 
years, since the end of World War II.
  As Putin tries to dismantle and divide the very alliance that has 
kept us safe for more than 70 years, it is all the more important that 
we strengthen our resolve through a strong message of unbreakable 
unity.
  It is critical that the Senate take up and pass bipartisan 
legislation that shows our support for Ukraine and our opposition to 
Russia and what Putin is doing. I have been working toward this goal. I 
especially want to commend Senator Portman for his work and leadership 
because he has also been working toward this goal. The Senate Foreign 
Relations Committee chairman and ranking member, Senators Menendez and 
Risch, continue their efforts to find a bipartisan path forward. And I 
am sure Senator Portman would agree with me that when we say we are 
committed to doing our part to forge a path forward on this 
legislation, we mean that is what we want to do; that this is an 
opportunity for us to show the rest of the world that we are united.
  That is why we are here today, to send a strong bipartisan message to 
Putin, to Ukraine, and to our allies. We must lead by example and 
convey, as we have done through our Ukrainian partners and our 
transatlantic allies, that we must not leave any space for Putin to sow 
further discord.
  Therefore, the Senate doesn't really have a choice; we must send a 
message of strong, unequivocal bipartisan resolve. For many years, 
Senator Portman and I and others in the Ukraine Caucus have worked 
closely to support the Ukrainian people. We traveled to Kyiv to ensure 
the U.S. resolve for our Ukrainian partners was absolute. We teamed up 
to increase military assistance to Ukraine, and we have spoken to 
ensure, on the topic of Ukraine, that this Senate speaks with one 
bipartisan voice.
  So today we stand united here on the floor of the Senate to send an 
unequivocal message to Putin: You will not divide the Senate; you will 
not divide the United States; and you will not divide the transatlantic 
alliance.
  Diplomacy remains an option, I hope, to deescalate this situation and 
to pursue a peaceful resolution, but if Putin decides to further invade 
Ukraine, he will only succeed in uniting us all--Democrats, 
Republicans, Americans, and the transatlantic alliance--in sending a 
message of unmistakable resolve against his belligerence. I hope he 
chooses peace rather than war, but we plan to be ready.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Ohio.
  Mr. PORTMAN. I would like to commend my colleague from New Hampshire 
for her strong statement. There should be no mistake here. The United 
States of America is united, as this place is united, the Senate and 
the House, Republicans and Democrats alike, in standing with Ukraine.
  And if there were to be another invasion, the consequences would be 
devastating for Russia. It would also, by the way, be harmful to the 
stability of Europe and the cause of freedom all around the world 
because then you would have an authoritarian country coming into a 
democratically elected smaller country and invading it, as Russia has 
already done in Crimea and parts of Donbas.
  So this effort tonight on the floor is simply to make it very clear 
that regardless of what legislative vehicle we end up choosing or 
resolution or other, there is no question that we are united, both 
Republicans and Democrats, in doing what is nonpartisan, which is 
standing up for freedom, which is what America has traditionally done.
  I thank my colleague.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New Hampshire.
  Mrs. SHAHEEN. Would my colleague yield for a question?
  Mr. PORTMAN. Absolutely.
  Mrs. SHAHEEN. Because as he points out, if Putin does invade Ukraine, 
as he said, it would be devastating for Ukraine, for those of us who 
believe in freedom, and the right of each individual country to 
determine their own future; but this would also be the biggest conflict 
in Europe since World War II; is that correct?
  Mr. PORTMAN. That is correct. And if there is an invasion, it would 
be the first time since 1945 that we have seen this kind of malign 
behavior--not just an invasion but even the proof we have seen of the 
so-called hybrid attacks, the cyber attacks, the disinformation 
attacks, which is why so many in Europe are alarmed, particularly in 
the Baltics and Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Poland, Romania. 
Countries that are right on the border, they realize that this is not 
going to end in Ukraine if this is what happens. It will send a message 
that we no longer have this post-World War II security system in place 
in Europe that has kept the peace.
  So my hope is that we will continue to see not just unity here on the 
floor of the Senate and in the House and in the White House to stand up 
for Ukraine but among our allies because all of us are engaged in this.
  And I must say I think what Russia and Vladimir Putin have done quite 
well in the last several weeks is unify the transatlantic alliance in 
ways I have rarely seen it. So NATO is stronger than ever because the 
Secretary General of NATO talked about this. He sounds exactly like we 
do, meaning that this shall not stand and cannot happen. So I think 
this is going to bring us together.
  But deterrence is what we are all about--a peaceful resolution, a 
backing off, and the ability to allow a free and independent people of 
Ukraine to have their sovereignty and territorial integrity respected.
  Now, may I ask my colleague from New Hampshire a question?
  Mrs. SHAHEEN. Absolutely.
  Mr. PORTMAN. We have seen here on the floor of the Senate lots of 
back-and-forth and partisanship. I made the assertion earlier that I 
see colleagues on both sides of the aisle being unified on this. I 
certainly feel that way with my Republican colleagues. Can the Senator 
speak to it as to her Democratic colleagues?
  Mrs. SHAHEEN. Certainly, the Presiding Officer would agree with me 
that in the Democratic caucus we are also united with the Republican 
caucus in wanting to support Ukraine to ensure that they can determine 
their own future and to hold Vladimir Putin accountable.
  As you say, hopefully, diplomacy will win out, and there will be some 
way in which we can work with Vladimir Putin to address some of his 
concerns. We are certainly not going to allow Putin and Russia to 
determine Ukraine's future--to say to Ukraine ``You can't join NATO'' 
or to say to Europe and NATO ``You can't expand into Europe if 
countries want to join.'' Hopefully, he will choose a path that is

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going to be good not just for Europe and the United States and Ukraine 
but for Russia, because, as the German Chancellor said to us last week 
when he met with a number of Senators: In the long run, this will not 
be good for Russia--for its energy future--because Europe is going to 
get off Russian energy a lot faster if Russia invades Ukraine, and it 
is not going to be good for Russia's standing either in Europe or in 
the world.
  So, hopefully, Putin will choose the reasonable approach, which is 
that he will choose diplomacy and not choose war.
  It is our job--that of the transatlantic alliance and those of us 
here in Congress--to hold Putin accountable if he makes the wrong 
choice, to make sure that we put in place crippling sanctions, that we 
provide the assistance that Ukraine needs in fighting Russia, and that 
we make it clear to the world that the world order that we have 
defended for the last 70 years we are going to continue to defend.
  Mr. PORTMAN. Well said.
  I yield the floor.
  Mrs. SHAHEEN. Madam President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.