[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 36 (Monday, February 28, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S827-S831]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    POSTAL SERVICE REFORM ACT OF 2022--Motion to Proceed--Continued

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Ohio.


                                Ukraine

  Mr. PORTMAN. Madam President, this is the fourth time I have come to 
the floor of the Senate in the past month to talk about the crisis in 
Ukraine and to talk about what we can do here in the U.S. Congress to 
try to help the great people of Ukraine.
  Today, I come to the floor to express my solidarity with the 
courageous people of Ukraine, who, as we speak, are under attack in 
Kyiv and Kharkiv, and in so many other cities and towns throughout 
Ukraine.
  Russia's attack on Ukraine is a brutal, unprovoked invasion of a 
democracy--an ally and a sovereign nation. It must not be allowed to 
stand or it will create a precedent that unravels the international 
order that has kept the peace in Europe for nearly 80 years.
  Earlier today, Senator Durbin and I organized a meeting of the 
Ukraine Caucus. We are the cochairs. We had Ambassador Markarova come, 
who is the Ukrainian Ambassador to the United States. Along with her 
came a member of the Rada, their Parliament, who happened to be in the 
United States when the attack began. They spoke with emotion about 
their country, about what they needed--Stinger missiles, Javelin 
missiles--to be able to fight against superior Russian air power and 
Russian tanks.
  But they also spoke with compassion about the people of Ukraine, 
about the sacrifice and the courage that they are showing. From the 
woman who has never fought before who now has an AK-47 and is defending 
her family in her apartment building to the President of the Republic, 
President Zelenskyy, all of them are showing courage in defending their 
homeland, their way of life, and democracy.
  I also just left a briefing that was an opportunity to hear from the 
Secretary of State, the Secretary of Defense, and other American 
officials about what we are doing as a country and to give us an update 
on their view as to what is happening in Ukraine.
  Just as the conversation with Ambassador Markarova and a member of 
the Rada was inspiring to hear about the courage and the resilience of 
the people of Ukraine, the briefing with our American officials was 
sobering.
  It was encouraging to see America stand up to protect freedom; but 
also, an understanding that the Russian forces outnumber those in 
Ukraine--and certainly their equipment, technology, their planes, and 
their tanks, and their ships are going to make this a very, very 
difficult battle.
  Thankfully, the world is rallying on this side of freedom. That is 
encouraging and inspiring.
  I was in Cleveland, OH, last night at a prayer vigil and then a 
rally. Over 1,000 people showed up. Many were Ukrainian Americans who 
live in Northeast Ohio--it is a strong community--but many were not. 
Many were from other countries: Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Poland, 
people who have family from Romania, Bulgaria, people from the entire 
region--including some from Russia--but all standing firmly with the 
people of Ukraine.
  As was said last night at the prayer vigil: Tonight, we are all 
Ukrainians. Tonight, we are all Ukrainians.
  There were also demonstrations and rallies all around the country 
yesterday. We are told over 40 cities had rallies to support Ukraine 
and the people of Ukraine.
  Last night, I heard stories about family members who are in harm's 
way. Again, people with their voices choked with emotion were talking 
about what is going on, what they are hearing from their family members 
back in Ukraine. One guy who I know told me that his brother-in-law 
back in Ukraine who, again, has never picked up a weapon before in his 
life, has joined the military. He is probably about my age. He has 
joined the military to put his life at risk for his country and for his 
neighbors.
  The people of Ukraine did nothing to cause this invasion--nothing. 
Their only desire is to live in peace. As Ambassador Markarova said 
this afternoon: Ukrainians never attack anybody. We just want to live 
in peace. Allow us to determine our own fate, our own destiny.
  That is what Vladimir Putin cannot abide, and that is what we in 
America and the rest of the free world must support Ukrainians in 
doing, to allow them to have the future that they choose through a duly 
elected government. The freedoms and democracy and prosperity that we 
take for granted so often in this country, they relish.
  In 2014, at the Maidan, once again they threw off the shackles of a 
Russian-backed government. They know what it is like to live under the 
thumb of Russia, under the thumb of the Soviet Union before that. They 
don't want to go back. In 2014, they made a conscious decision to go 
forward, looking to the West, to stand with us.
  I was there while the Maidan was still smoldering. The tires were 
still smoldering. People were still there, gathered. Even though the 
Russian-backed government had been removed, they still weren't sure 
what would happen. Then an election occurred, a democratic election. 
And a President was elected. And a parliament, a Rada, was elected. And 
they began to fight for not just the freedom of Ukraine and the 
democracy in Ukraine but the rule of law to get rid of some of the 
oligarchical structure that Russia had left, the corruption. And now 
this, after so much progress. Since 2014, they have fought and fought 
and fought to be like us. And now this.
  Hundreds of innocent Ukrainians--men, women, and children--have 
already lost their lives in this invasion. Nobody knows the exact 
number. But we saw footage today on CNN, on FOX, on the networks, of 
apartment buildings that had been attacked by missiles. We heard from 
the Ambassador that two five-story apartment buildings had been 
attacked today, and women and children had lost their lives.
  This humanitarian crisis, of course, is pouring refugees into other 
countries as well. Hundreds of thousands of people have escaped to 
Poland, mostly women and children. Romania is also taking its share of 
refugees.
  But make no mistake: Ukrainians are fighting. They are fighting back 
bravely. And they have inflicted great costs already on their Russian 
invaders.
  I commend those brave Ukrainians and Armed Forces who picked up arms 
against these great odds and have already denied President Putin his 
initial objective and immediate occupation.
  I want to particularly commend the brave leadership of Ukraine 
President Vladimir Zelenskyy. His defiance in the face of evil is what 
leads free countries and societies through difficult and dark days like 
Ukraine is experiencing right now. When it was suggested to him that 
the West would like to help him to find a way to escape, his response 
this week was: ``I need ammunition, not a ride.'' ``I need ammunition, 
not a ride.''
  This has been a rallying cry not only for the people of Ukraine but 
around the world. Unfortunately, Ukraine is used to this Russian 
aggression. They have suffered already during an 8-year war on Ukraine 
since 2014, since the Revolution of Dignity, since the events under 
Maidan I talked about earlier. Fourteen thousand Ukrainian citizens 
have lost their lives at the hands of Russian snipers, Russian 
military, and artillery.
  I have been to the front. They call it the line of contact. It is the 
border now between Ukraine and these so-called occupied territories, 
the Donbas. ``Line of contact'' is a euphemism. It makes it sound like 
there are gloves touching at the contact. It is a line of war, and it 
has been for 14 years. Again, 14,000 Ukrainians have lost their lives.
  I had to wear the helmet and the flak jacket because there were 
snipers that

[[Page S828]]

day taking pot shots at Ukrainian soldiers. But I saw with those 
Ukrainian soldiers the patriotism, the nationalism that I knew would 
lead them to fight; that the miscalculation by President Putin was 
that, somehow, Russia would be greeted as victors. Some even said that 
he thought he would be greeted with flowers. Instead, they are being 
greeted with AK-47s. And having been there on the frontlines, you knew 
this would happen. These Ukrainians are not going to give up their 
country.
  When President Putin decided to invade Ukraine in 2014 and seize 
Crimea and come into the Donbas, it was clear that Russia was not a 
rational actor but one motivated by the irrational dreams of recreating 
an empire at all costs. The world warned Russia to stand down then, and 
they refused. And the sanctions were too weak. This time, the world 
again has warned Vladimir Putin to stand down. Instead, he has ordered 
airstrikes into the capital city of Kyiv. Now there are reports of 
Russian military deliberately striking hospitals, kindergartens, and 
apartment complexes, as I talked about a moment ago.
  These are war crimes, and the world is watching. I would say to 
Russian officials tonight, Russian commanders, there is another way. 
Stop this atrocity. The world is watching, and the war crimes are being 
recorded. You can refuse these orders--and you must for the sake of 
humanity. Why would you want to kill your neighbors in Ukraine who are 
innocent and just want to have the opportunity to lead their life as 
they see fit?
  These are not just war crimes; they are a clear violation of Russia's 
international commitments under the Budapest Memorandum, the Minsk 
agreements, the U.N. Charter, international law--as was the decree 
issued earlier in February, about 2 weeks ago, by President Putin, 
which recognized the independence of parts of Ukraine, the Donetsk 
People's Republic, the Luhansk People's Republic. He did so as a 
pretext to ordering the Russian military to conduct so-called 
peacekeeping missions in occupied Ukrainian territories.
  We now see that this was one more case of disinformation. The lies 
and disinformation will continue, as they did today. But they are 
taking in fewer and fewer people because people can see what is 
happening. This is the age of digital communications, where people can 
see videos in realtime of the war crimes being committed.
  I was among those advocating for tougher sanctions upfront, 
preinvasion, believing that might dissuade Russia from launching a 
full-scale assault. I cosponsored legislation to do just that and had 
hoped Congress would pass bipartisan legislation mandating tough 
financial sanctions, Nord Stream 2 sanctions, assistance to combat 
cyber attacks, disinformation, in addition to advanced military aid.
  I honestly don't know whether it would have kept Vladimir Putin from 
making this terrible mistake, but I thought it was something we should 
have done. We chose not to. And we are where we are. And now, we are 
seeing not just the United States but the rest of the world step 
forward with these tough sanctions.
  And I congratulate the Biden administration for getting the rest of 
the world on board, as they have. There is more to do. We have now 
targeted Russian banks, Russian elites with sanctions, placed limits on 
high-tech commerce and Russia's ability to do business in dollars. All 
are welcome. In particular, the Treasury Department's imposition of 
economic measures that target the core infrastructure of Russia and 
more than 50 percent of the total banking system in Russia will have a 
devastating economic effect over time. Already today, they closed down 
their markets in Russia, their stock market. They are saying that 
foreign reserve cannot leave the country. So it is already having an 
impact.
  In addition, the administration's announcement that they will sell 
250 M1A2 battle tanks to Poland, I commend. I have been pushing for 
that for some time. These are the best tanks in the world. And Poland 
wanted them, and it is great we are now delivering those.
  We have now deployed more U.S. troops to Germany and Eastern Europe 
to enhance NATO defenses. That is necessary, in my view. We are not in 
Ukraine but in the countries around Ukraine to ensure that, should 
Vladimir Putin expand this war--and who knows whether he will or not--
he will meet even stiffer resistance from NATO.
  We must make it part of a deliberate, coordinated strategy to enhance 
the military readiness of our Eastern European allies and do so 
quickly.
  I also applaud the United States working with our European allies--
with Australia, with Canada, with South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and 
Singapore on a coordinated export control response. Combined, by the 
way, these four Asian countries I named account for over 70 percent of 
the world's semiconductor production. A ban on semiconductors, on 
chips, would be very costly to Russia's ability to arm and resupply its 
military. We must be sure this action comes to fruition. This must 
happen.
  However, these are just first steps, in my view. We can and should do 
more. And I think there is a bipartisan consensus now here on Capitol 
Hill to do just that. Let me offer a few more suggestions.
  I welcome the news from this weekend that we are going to be joined 
by a number of allies in sanctioning Russia's central bank and cutting 
off a number of their institutions from the SWIFT financial system. We 
are still seeing details of these plans. But as of now, it looks like 
they still have some carve-outs in this plan for certain financial 
institutions when it comes to SWIFT. I think it is a better idea to put 
all of Russia's banks on this sanctioning list.
  As for the central bank, I am glad we are getting global cooperation, 
but who we really need to step up to the plate is China. I am told 
China holds 14 percent of Russia's finances in reserves. China needs to 
know that this is a decision point. Will they stand against this 
tyranny that the global community is standing against or not?
  I believe we should also target Russia's trade sector by revoking our 
permanent normal trade relationship, or PNTR, with Russia. In other 
words, the United States should no longer give Russia unrestricted 
access in trade to our country. This would have the effect of raising 
tariffs on goods from Russia to the rates at which they were before 
Russia joined the World Trade Organization and received this special 
status, PNTR, from the U.S. Congress.
  When I was U.S. Trade Representative, I helped negotiate this 
agreement, and it does give them certain privileges with regard to our 
economy. Free trade with the United States is a privilege, not a right. 
After Russia joined the WTO in 2012, Congress passed legislation to 
expand trade between our countries by eliminating tariffs on some of 
these imports. But as easily as we granted PNTR, Congress can take it 
away. Invading a sovereign nation, a democracy no less, is certainly 
grounds for us to take away that privilege. And we have the right to 
undo it under the WTO rules for national security reasons.
  It would not be unprecedented. In 1992, Congress revoked market 
access for Serbia and Montenegro as a result of their aggression in the 
wake of the breakup of Yugoslavia.
  Today, I will be introducing bipartisan legislation to revoke 
unrestricted market access for countries who invade their neighbors, 
period. I call upon our trading partners to invoke their own national 
security rights at the WTO and similarly take away market access 
Russia, until this point, has enjoyed in their economies.
  This should be ended, this market access, unless and until Ukraine's 
territorial integrity and sovereignty are as they were prior to the 
Russian invasion.
  I was also glad to see the Germans have reversed their policy of not 
allowing arms that were originally produced in Germany to be sent to 
Ukraine. This is a big deal. They are now joining our other allies that 
have sent weapons in the past and are sending more now.
  Germany is allowing another ally, the Netherlands, to send rocket-
propelled grenades. I have been critical of Germany. I have been 
critical of Germany on this very floor--also, when I was at the Munich 
conference in Germany last week. I wish they had taken these steps 
sooner, but I commend them for taking these steps now.
  We also need to increase shipments of lethal military arms to 
Ukraine, to the

[[Page S829]]

Baltics, to Poland, Romania--as well as increasing defense spending 
here at home. This weekend, the administration authorized an additional 
$350 million in lethal defensive arms for Ukraine. That is a positive 
development, and we need to get those weapons there immediately. I 
understand that some have gone. Others have not. These Javelins and 
Stingers and other military equipment need to be in Ukraine as soon as 
possible. The Ambassador told me today they need them badly, and there 
is absolutely no time to lose.
  I understand the administration has also recently requested $6.4 
billion in aid for Ukraine in an emergency supplemental. I don't know 
if that is enough. With hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian refugees 
fleeing to Poland and other countries supporting Ukraine, we need to 
provide these allies with help to deal with this crisis.
  I also want to take a hard look at the amount we are spending on 
arming Ukraine and our allies. Now is the time to provide them with 
what they need. An aid package should increase our lethal defensive 
assistance, provide critical support to combat enhanced cyber attacks 
against Ukraine and disinformation, and prepare for a refugee flow out 
of Ukraine into Europe.
  By the way, we also need to enhance our own tools against cyber 
security right here in this country. Russia's cyber warfare against 
America continues, and it could increase. There is legislation actually 
on the floor this week to do just that, the Cyber Incident Reporting 
for Critical Infrastructure Act and two other pieces of legislation, 
FedRAMP and FISMA, our legislation to help protect our 
critical infrastructure on the private sector side but also protect our 
sensitive government information, national security data. So we can do 
something this week by passing that legislation.

  Finally, Ukraine and Georgia should be allowed to begin the process 
to become part of NATO. You may remember it has been 14 years since 
NATO told Ukraine and Georgia they were in line for NATO membership. It 
was back in 2008.
  I do not believe this invasion would have happened had Ukraine been 
part of NATO, period. I was told when I promoted this idea over the 
last several years that we couldn't do it because it would make Russia 
mad. I don't know what the reason is now.
  These two countries, Ukraine and Georgia, along perhaps with Sweden 
and Finland, if they are interested--I understand the Finnish 
Parliament is going to take this up tomorrow--could join the so-called 
MAP process, or Mutual Action Plan, in NATO, laying out the specific 
roadmap for entry. It is time to put Ukraine on that final track toward 
NATO membership.
  Let me remind everyone that Ukraine is not asking us to fight their 
wars for them. In fact, the world continues to watch and see images of 
Ukrainian forces and regular civilians picking up arms and defending 
their homeland. They are just asking for enough help to defend 
themselves.
  This is about the fight for freedom, and it is taking place right now 
at this time in the country of Ukraine. It is taking place in places 
all around the world. I am told that today there is a move toward more 
authoritarianism; that more people live under authoritarian regimes 
than under democratic regimes, based on some analysis; that it is 
shifting in the wrong direction.
  Well, why then would we not stand by Ukraine? Because Ukraine is 
moving in the right direction. In 2014, they moved from being under the 
Russian thumb, authoritarianism, to democracy, and now Russia is trying 
to reverse that. We must stand for freedom. Why? Because it is in our 
interests.
  Ultimately, we are the beacon of hope for opportunity for the rest of 
the world because of our freedoms here, but they are tenuous, and they 
depend on the allies around the world who also treasure freedom.
  There are two quotes from two U.S. Presidents that come to mind. One 
is from a Republican and one is from a Democrat. The Democrat is John 
F. Kennedy. And these are words that he actually never spoke, but he 
wrote them. And it was from a speech that he was meant to give on the 
afternoon that he was assassinated in Dallas. He was to say, at this 
time:

       [I]n this country, in this generation, [we] are--by destiny 
     rather than choice--the watchmen on the walls of world 
     freedom.

  We are the watchmen on the walls of world freedom.
  Senator Kennedy served in this Chamber. President Kennedy was right. 
Just as he stood up to the Cuban Missile Crisis, he understood that by 
destiny rather than choice, it is up to us.
  Ronald Reagan famously said that you get ``[p]eace through 
[s]trength.''
  To me, that is one of the great truisms of our last couple of decades 
in this country; that we have to have a strong military if we want to 
have peace because only by the projection of force can we ensure that 
we can keep peace around the world.
  He also said:

       We know only too well that war comes not when the forces of 
     freedom are strong, but when they are weak. It is then that 
     tyrants are tempted.

  Think of the situation in Ukraine. It is then that tyrants are 
tempted.
  There is strong bipartisan support now for Ukraine. And this week, we 
should work hard to ensure that we pass this supplemental 
appropriations bill we talked about that includes the assistance for 
Ukraine but also to strengthen our ability to protect against cyber 
attacks; also to do what we can in terms of trade--cutting off the 
normal trade status with Russia, tightening up the sanctions on the 
central bank we talked about.
  There is so much more we can and should do. But I find there is no 
lack of resolve right now from this Congress in its support for Ukraine 
and their people--their people who are just choosing a democratic and 
free future, free from tyranny.
  The Ukrainian dream is now under attack by a brutal dictator who 
wants to remake Europe and disrupt the international order that has 
kept the peace for nearly 80 years. It is time for this Congress to 
speak with one voice. Freedom in Eastern Europe depends upon it, but so 
does global freedom and our freedom. Our allies and our adversaries are 
watching.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Nebraska.
  Mr. SASSE. Madam President, first I would like to associate myself 
with the comments of the Senator from Ohio, Senator Portman. He was 
eloquent, as always, about a pressing issue--not only the defense 
budget issues but the heroism of the Ukrainian people and the 
implications it should have for us in this Chamber this week and 
beyond.
  Thank you, Senator Portman.
  Madam President, it is a little after 4 a.m. in Kyiv, the capital of 
Ukraine, and President Zelenskyy is still fighting, Ukrainians are 
still fighting, and Americans need to know their stories. Ukrainians 
need us to tell their stories.
  This story starts, of course, with an unjust, unprovoked invasion. 
The people of Ukraine posed no threat. They provoked no violence. They 
lived freely on Russia's southwest border with their iconic wheat 
fields.
  Many of us have been to Ukraine. We made friends there, but we also 
have Ukrainian American friends back in our States.
  Living freely on the southwest border of Russia was enough to provoke 
the small man--the tyrant of Russia--to hatred. It is bizarre. They 
lived in freedom. So Putin decided he was threatened.
  Vladimir Putin, Russia's desperate Nebuchadnezzar, thought he could 
crush Ukraine. He thought he could break their spirit. He thought he 
could put his boot on their neck. He actually thinks that freedom makes 
people soft; so he thought this would be easy.
  He was wrong. Over the last week, Ukrainians have shown us their 
fighting spirit. They have shown the world their fighting spirit. They 
are standing firm against onslaught after onslaught, including the 
relentless targeting of now-civilian populations.
  Outmanned and outgunned, the Ukrainian Army is making Putin pay pints 
of blood for every inch his army advances. The truth is, Putin didn't 
expect to encounter much resistance. He looked back on his experience 
in the Donbas, where he took big swaths of territory with a few dozen 
bullets, and he was convinced that the Ukrainian people would fold in 
the face of his giant army. He has been caught off guard, and his plans 
have been set back.
  He didn't anticipate the bravery. He didn't anticipate the passion. 
He didn't

[[Page S830]]

anticipate the heroism. He didn't anticipate the Ukrainian people. He 
didn't anticipate the way ordinary villagers would stand and rise up 
against their occupiers, like the one small woman who approached a 
group of Russian soldiers and began handing them handfuls of sunflower 
seeds. Why? She told them it was so that flowers--something beautiful--
could grow on the places where their bodies rot after they were killed 
in the Ukraine.
  She spoke for all Ukrainians. She spoke for the Kyiv grandmas arming 
up with AK-47s. She spoke for the grandpas who are having to reenlist 
in their late years. She spoke for the students now learning how to 
make Molotov cocktails. She spoke for fathers who have to kiss their 
children goodbye as they head back to the frontlines of battle. And she 
is speaking prophetically in advance for the mothers who are going to 
bury their sons.
  The truth is, Putin has been embarrassed over the last 5 or 6 days by 
the Ukrainians.
  Modern tyrants have developed a few strategies to fight truth-
telling. The Chinese Communist Party's version is trying to suppress 
all information--to choke it off, to make sure no one says anything 
that is true. Others, like in Russia, decide to blast a billion lies 
through state-run media, hoping that they can just blot out the truth 
and sow so much confusion and nonsense that people can't find the 
needle in the haystack that is the truth.
  But in the middle of this crisis, these strategies are failing 
because people are hungry for stories. People need stories. We need 
stories. The best and the most powerful stories are almost always the 
true stories. And, right now, Ukraine is retelling an age-old story of 
good and evil. And the reason their story is so powerful is because 
they are telling the true story. If we were to stand here tonight--and 
Senator Portman and I and many others have been in the SCIF today for 
many, many hours. I have been there four or five times, and most of us 
have been there the last hour and a half, 2 hours. And if we were to 
tell every story of Ukrainian bravery, the Senate wouldn't have time to 
get anything else done this week.
  But there is one store that stands out over the course of this last 
week, since Putin began his unjust invasion. It has given rise for the 
courageous Ukrainian resistance to find for themselves a new motto, and 
this is the story of Snake Island.
  There is this little island in the Black Sea, near the mouth at the 
bottom of the Danube Delta. It is called Snake Island, and it is really 
small, but it is both strategically and symbolically important because 
it marks the boundary of Ukraine's territorial waters. Ukraine has 
always stationed a small number of border guards on this island to keep 
watch.

  In 2019, the current President, Zelenskyy, went to this tiny little 
piece of rock and he declared: ``This island, like the rest of our 
territory, is Ukrainian land, and we will defend it with all our 
might.''
  Nobody in 2019 knew he was speaking prophecy. But, right now, over 
the course of the last week, the world has seen and the world has heard 
the story. The world has heard the recording of what those 13 Ukrainian 
heroes did last Thursday as they sought to defend that little piece of 
rock because it was symbolically important, as all of Ukraine was, that 
it is not Russia.
  Shortly after Putin ordered his troops to attack Ukraine, two Russian 
naval vessels approached Snake Island and their intent was to seize it. 
The Russian commander ordered the Ukrainian border guards that they 
must surrender. He thought he could intimidate them. But like their 
commander in chief, the dictator--the liar Putin--he was wrong. They 
couldn't intimidate these men. So he announced that they needed to 
surrender or they would be fired upon. The Snake Island guards refused 
to give an inch. One Ukrainian, after conversing with some of his 
colleagues a little bit--on a recording many of you may have now 
heard--decided to turn up the volume and he announced: ``Russian 
warship, idi nahui''--``idi nahui.''
  Russians decided to open fire on the island, pounding it with heavy 
ordnance and, eventually, troops would storm the beach and capture the 
garrison. But that one sentence--``Russian warship, idi nahui''--that 
is now the rallying cry of the Ukrainian resistance. It was heard this 
morning when a Georgian gas station on the sea decided that it wouldn't 
refuel the Russian ship. And when the Russian ship said, ``What are you 
talking about?'' they said: No, you are the bad guys.
  The Russians said: Why can't we put politics aside? Just let us buy 
some gas.
  These Georgians decided to repeat the new Ukrainian motto back to the 
gas station and said: Get the hell out of here.
  And the gas station pulled away and said: Russian warship, you guys 
look strong enough. Why don't you row?
  That sentence sums up the spirit of countless courageous, brave 
Ukrainians and what they are doing as they stand in the face of the 
much larger invading forces.
  Snake Island is incomprehensible to a man like Vladimir Putin. He 
doesn't understand human dignity. He doesn't understand courage. He 
doesn't understand principle. He is too small. He doesn't understand 
why people would fight for freedom. This is a man who spent the last 30 
years--20 of them now--as the ruler fighting to return Russia to 
tyranny, fighting to take away the freedom of his people, fighting to 
take away the liberty and freedom of those on Russia's borders. He 
doesn't want any of his near neighbors to know freedom. He thinks 
tyranny is the order of things. And, again, he is wrong.
  Unlike Putin, though, our people--the reason so many Americans have 
been rallying to the Ukrainian cause over the course of the last week--
our people fully understand the spirit of Snake Island. We may not know 
Snake Island geographically, but we understand what is beating in the 
hearts of the people who now wanted to echo that motto.
  We breathe freedom. We believe in the ideas of the Declaration of 
Independence. We strive to create a more perfect Union here, where 
everyone is recognized as having been created equal. We often fail in 
our execution, but it is our aspiration to affirm universal human 
dignity and the destiny of people to be free, for we believe that every 
human is created in the image of God, and there is nothing government 
can do to erase that.
  We have no love for strong men and tyrants. We understand the men of 
Snake Island in a way that Vladimir Putin cannot, for we believe in 
human dignity. We believe in universal rights. We believe in freedom 
from oppression. What we love, Vladimir Putin hates.
  Today, Ukraine is standing against a dictator who rejects each and 
every one of the principles that we have affirmed in our credo founding 
documents. The defenders of Snake Island and, indeed, all the members 
of the Ukrainian resistance now are looking to add their names to the 
list of heroes, from the warriors of Thermopylae to the activists who 
brought down the Iron Curtain. This heroism is timeless.
  Loving freedom didn't make Snake Island's defenders weak. Though they 
were outgunned, they were strong. The Ukrainians are fighting for a 
reason: love of country, hatred of oppression, and the aim they have to 
pass on a free Ukraine to their children for generations to come.
  This national resistance, expressed so eloquently by these guards of 
Snake Island, has also come to find itself embodied in another one of 
the great new heroes on the global stage, and that is President 
Zelenskyy. Just a few years ago, this man was an actor and a comedian. 
Now, though, he has shown such bravery that we see his name listed 
alongside heroes and great statesmen like Winston Churchill and Charles 
de Gaulle.
  As Russian troops bore down on Kyiv, Zelenskyy could have chosen to 
flee his country. You might have read some reports that the U.S. State 
Department allegedly offered to evacuate him and his family. But, 
instead, Zelenskyy chose that he would stay on the frontlines and lead 
his people. ``The fight is here,'' he said. ``I need ammunition, not a 
ride.''
  Putin, meanwhile, is off hiding in a bunker, trembling in fear of his 
own people. People are marching in the streets to oppose his pointless 
war, and his only response is to try to choke off their speech and to 
imprison them.
  Zelenskyy, on the other hand, fights shoulder to shoulder with the 
men and

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women who are trying to defend his country. You may have seen him 
breaking bread with some guys this morning. He has put his life on the 
line for his country, and he is not backing down, and his bravery has 
changed the world this week.
  We don't know how things are going to unfold over the course of the 
next weeks and months, but Zelenskyy has changed the trajectory this 
week of Germany, of Finland, of Sweden, of Switzerland, and of kids all 
over the 7.8 billion-person planet. Zelenskyy is a symbol, and as a 
courageous man, he has already changed the world. He is a bigger man 
than Putin. The whole world knows that. Putin's own army knows that. 
Even Putin's cronies now know that.
  But it is not just the Ukrainians who are going to be burying their 
dead. Russians are going to be burying many of their sons, as well. 
Thousands of Russians--many of whom are conscripts--will have died 
needlessly for Vladimir Putin's lies and his vanity.
  Putin told Russian parents that their sons were off on training 
exercise and that they would be welcomed as heroes at the end of these 
exercises. He didn't tell them they would be shot, lit on fire, blown 
to bits. He didn't say these things because he is a liar.
  While we applaud the bravery of Ukrainians, we should not overlook 
the humanity of these Russians who will also die, for the West's 
battle--freedom's battle--is not with Russian moms who didn't even know 
their boys were being deployed, women who would not desire to have the 
dictator Putin send their sons to ruin. Human beings are made in the 
image of God and are dying, and Vladimir Putin alone bears 
responsibility.
  His evil ambitions are destroying not just Ukrainian bodies and souls 
but also Russian bodies and souls, and this conflict, this chosen war 
of aggression by Vladimir Putin, is disgusting, and if he actually 
cared for anything bigger than his ego, if he actually cared for his 
people, if he actually cared for his nation, the generations of 
Russians whom this war is going to impoverish, then he would find an 
off-ramp now. That is what a bigger man would do.
  Ukraine, on the other hand, is not the aggressor here. We are seeing 
a people fighting for their survival because Putin has given them no 
other choice, and his thugs will keep on killing innocents until they 
are expelled from Ukraine's borders.
  We obviously don't know how history will unfold here, but we do know 
that truth is on the Ukrainians' side, and the truth is this: that the 
boys of Snake Island and President Zelenskyy and the broader Ukrainian 
national resistance are mounting a defense of freedom unlike anything 
the West has seen since the end of the Cold War.
  And that is why this story of Snake Island matters. It is why 
Zelenskyy's bravery is so important, not just for Ukraine but for the 
whole world. And it is why that little woman's sunflower seeds are so 
inspired--for ordinary Ukrainians are responding to Putin's aggression 
with extraordinary heroism.
  We should be in awe of what our friends are accomplishing. Make no 
mistake though, war is not an abstraction. Our 21st century jargon 
about kinetic action and lethal force tries to paper over a reality as 
old as Cain and Abel. War is young men and young women struggling for a 
last gasp of air while their blood soaks into the mud.
  War is started by the old but usually waged by the young, and no one 
in their right mind would ever wish for war, for it is ugly. But the 
cause can be necessary, and, in this case, the Ukrainian cause is just. 
Their war for their country, for their freedom, and for their kids' 
futures is just. The Ukrainians are willing to shed their blood for 
their cause, but, as importantly, they are willing to soak the streets 
with the blood of Russians, who have been sent by the comfortable 
tyrant Putin, who sends his people to die pointlessly far from home 
while he consumes the billions that he has stolen from those same 
people.
  Let's be steely-eyed about the coming days and weeks, because things 
tonight, at 4:30 in the morning, in Ukraine, are ugly, and they are 
going to get much, much worse. But Ukraine's heroes, despite of the 
dark nights that are ahead--their heroes--deserve our reverence. While 
it is ugly in Ukraine, their stories need to be told around the world 
by free people who believe in human dignity, for there is a great 
pantheon of freedom fighters across time, men and women who have died 
fighting tyrants, and we should tell their story. We must celebrate 
their cause, and we should arm them with as many Javelins and Stingers 
and rifles as they can possibly use.
  We should ship them rations and ammo, and we should share actionable 
intelligence in realtime with them so they can try to repel the 
invading force, for as long as they are fighting tyrants, America 
stands with them and America will arm them, and I am convinced that 
this Senate will rise to the call to arm these Ukrainian freedom 
fighters in memory of those boys from Snake Island and all those who 
are joining their throng.
  Glory to Ukraine. Glory to her heroes. America stands with you.

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