[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 45 (Monday, March 14, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1135-S1137]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                                Ukraine

  Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, last Thursday, I decided to join with 
Senator Shaheen and set up a meeting with about 13 European Ambassadors 
to the United States. It was for the Democratic Senators. Afterward, we 
thought this should have been bipartisan, and the next one will be.
  But the Ambassadors' meeting was nothing short of historic because 
these 14 Ambassadors, representing the obvious leaders in Europe, all 
spoke to the issue of Ukraine and what it has meant to them and what it 
has done to their nations.
  Some of their statements were profound. The Ambassador from Germany 
talked about how her country had, in a matter of 2 weeks, dramatically 
changed its position on many issues: On the future of the Nord Stream 2 
pipeline, they have come to realize that dependence on Russia is risky 
business in the 21st century; whether or not Germany will step up and 
support the Ukrainian people. They decided they would, and they also 
decided that they would make a substantial investment in military 
spending as part of NATO.
  Some of those things seem like very common decisions to Americans, 
but for them, it was many times a reversal of a party position. They 
have come to realize, as we have around the world, that the Ukrainian 
situation calls for emergency measures.
  I first want to commend President Joe Biden. Though I may not agree 
with all his policies and approaches, I have to say that at the moment 
in history we find ourselves, thank goodness Joe Biden is our 
President. I cannot imagine his predecessor in a similar circumstance.
  Joe Biden set out to first unify NATO. It sounds like an easy task. 
It is an alliance which we inspired back in the 1940s, after World War 
II, and have been an active leader in for decades. But our relationship 
with the nations of NATO and Europe and our relationship to the world 
as a NATO alliance

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had suffered greatly in the last few years. Joe Biden set out to change 
that, and he is the man to do it.
  Throughout his career in the Senate and as Vice President to 
President Obama, he played a major role in foreign policy. He was no 
stranger to many of the people he sat down with in the NATO alliance. 
He brought them together and impressed upon them that, if Putin should 
decide to invade Ukraine, the NATO alliance had to be stronger than 
ever. He convinced them, and we should recognize that. Both parties 
should recognize that. His leadership brought NATO into the 21st 
century and brought it to the stage where it can confront this Putin 
threat in a responsible manner.
  This is being felt across the world, but it is being felt 
particularly in the nations that are on the border of Ukraine or 
Belarus.
  At this meeting of the Ambassadors, I called on the Ambassador from 
Poland. I will have to admit and concede that I have a bias there 
because I represent the second largest Polish city in the world, 
Chicago, IL, second only to Warsaw. There are many fine Polish people 
there, and there have been for many generations, who are following this 
closely, realizing that they are right on the edge, right next to 
Ukraine.
  The Ambassador made some comments that I thought were worth repeating 
on the floor. At that time, about 1\1/2\ million refugees--1\1/2\ 
million refugees--had flown or come across the border into Poland, and 
they were being absorbed and accepted in that country--1\1/2\ million. 
He said something that was noteworthy.

  He said: If you watch the TV of the people coming to the train 
stations and across the border, did you notice there are no refugee 
camps in Poland for the Ukrainians? Those people who come across the 
border are being brought into the homes of Polish families. They are 
taking the spare bedroom or finding a way to get by in homes of people 
who care for them--1\1/2\ million. Now, some go on to other countries, 
but many are staying in Poland.
  Then he said something which has historic significance. He said: We 
are taking care of these people because in 1939, no one would take care 
of us.
  He is, of course, referring to the invasion of Poland by the Nazis 
and the subjugation of the Polish population after a valiant effort to 
stop the Nazi advance and then the hardship and suffering of the Polish 
people under Nazi rule. They remember that. Few were personally alive 
to remember, but families have repeated the stories over and over 
again.
  My hat is off to the Polish people for their kindness and caring and 
their leadership when it comes to accepting refugees. But what a lesson 
for us and for the rest of the world. Countries around Europe are each 
accepting responsibility.
  This was a big weekend in Chicago. It is St. Patrick's Day weekend. 
We dyed the river green--lots of parties, lots of fun, events at 
churches like Old St. Patrick's and others. It is a tradition which I 
am really fond to be part of each year.
  I noticed when I spoke to the Irish American Partnership on Friday 
morning how many people were asking me about Ukraine. At a time when we 
usually just have a lot of fun and remember good times involving Irish 
parties and Irish families, there was a real concern about Ukraine--and 
not just in Chicago among the Irish but equally important in Ireland 
among the Irish, because several things have happened in the last few 
days in Ireland.
  They have been gathering thousands of pounds of medical supplies and 
humanitarian aid and shipping them over to Ukraine through Poland and 
other countries. They really care. Then they made a commitment. 
Ireland--a nation of 5 million people--made a commitment to take 
100,000 Ukrainian refugees.
  I said to the group that I met with on Friday morning: A lesson for 
us all. This isn't the first time we have seen refugees in the world; 
it is the current refugee crisis, and it is ongoing in many other parts 
of the world. And what a lesson for us all--regardless of our religious 
affiliation, that if we do care for our fellow man, we should care for 
these refugees. They are the strangers, as often referred to in 
Christian teaching, whom we are asked to accept.
  So I want to commend the Polish people, the Hungarians, the 
Romanians, the Moldovans for accepting refugees as they have from 
Ukraine. It is a tragedy that it is necessary, but thank goodness there 
are caring people in those countries who do open their homes and their 
lives to the refugees.
  There was a conversation as well from other Ambassadors that day, but 
the message that came through dramatically was that we are now unified. 
The NATO alliance and other countries in Europe, like Sweden and 
Finland and Switzerland, although they are not part of the NATO 
alliance, really care and want to be part of the response to it. That 
is the strength of the force against Vladimir Putin. But the real 
strength is in Ukraine itself.
  How can you watch the television and see the devastation that is 
taking place and not feel for the people who are still remaining there, 
the millions who each day wake up and wonder if that is the last day of 
their life because of a Russian missile or a Russian bomb or because 
Vladimir Putin has decided to engage in a scorched-earth policy?
  When they bombed maternity hospitals, I thought they had reached the 
lowest possible point, but over the weekend, Vladimir Putin intensified 
his illegal, unprovoked war on Ukraine--shelling apartment buildings, 
hospitals, schools, creating an obscene body of evidence that Vladimir 
Putin should be charged and convicted of the worst possible war crimes.
  That is why I had to hesitate for a moment and say, when I hear 
apologists for Putin in America, I wonder who they are and what they 
are made of. Tucker Carlson is one who even the Russians are 
recommending that their friends in the media listen to, making excuses 
on FOX for Vladimir Putin. There are no excuses--none acceptable--on 
the subject. Mr. Carlson should be ashamed of himself.
  It is impossible to know how many innocent civilians have already 
died in Ukraine. Estimates run from hundreds to thousands. An estimated 
2.8 million Ukrainians--almost all of them women, children, and the 
elderly--have fled in the bitter cold to other nations, carrying one or 
two suitcases and a backpack and a baby on their side. Millions more 
Ukrainian citizens are displaced inside Ukraine--we can't even count 
that number--and multitudes are trapped in places like Mariupol and 
other cities under siege by Russia. Many of them are without food and 
water and medicine and electricity.
  These families are coming to shelters and saying: We have no food to 
give our children. That is how desperate the circumstances are because 
of Mr. Putin's invasion. His unprovoked war is a war of atrocities.
  Yesterday, I attended a rally at the Ukrainian Center in Chicago. It 
had been chilly the day before, but it warmed up into the 50s--which is 
good news in Chicago in March--and we were outside. Quite a crowd 
showed up. There were more blue and gold Ukrainian flags than I had 
seen in any one place in America, but there were many other flags too. 
There were Polish flags; and I am proud to say there were Lithuanian 
flags--my mother's homeland--Estonian, Latvian, American flags, all 
gathered to show unity with the Ukrainian people.
  Since this war started, they have been working to provide aid 
shipments and to reach family members in Ukraine. You can tell that it 
is taking its toll on them as they talk about members of their families 
that are still in Ukraine today.
  But people came with a loud round of applause when I announced that 
we had, on the floor of the Senate last week on Thursday, passed a bill 
to provide $13.6 billion to Ukraine--humanitarian aid, military aid. 
And President Biden, over the weekend, talked about another $200 
million worth of direct military aid. That makes it over $1 billion 
that America has sent, and there is more to follow.
  We talked about the sanctions against Russia, sanctions which will be 
felt by the common people of Russia. Unfortunately, some of them are 
innocent victims in this as well, but it will put pressure on Putin to 
finally stop this deadly invasion.
  They said--and I believe--that this is not simply a war on Ukraine; 
it is a war on democracy. It is a war on civilization.
  On Wednesday, we are going to have a historic moment here in the 
Capitol. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the

[[Page S1137]]

President of Ukraine, will address a joint session of Congress using 
the remote technology. We are all in awe of his courage and leadership, 
and we are anxious to hear his message, to think of what that man has 
achieved by staying on the scene, regularly broadcasting videos to show 
that he was still there. He inspires his people to get up and fight for 
Ukraine.
  Our message to him on that day is ``Slava Ukraini!''--that is, 
``Glory to Ukraine.'' And it is a phrase that was actually banished 
during Soviet times because it was so nationalistic that the Soviets 
didn't want the people of that country using it. They use it proudly 
today because they are an independent, free, and democratic nation.
  America stands with Ukraine in its fight for democracy and 
civilization. I just hope that we will learn many lessons from this. 
Don't many of the things which we were arguing about in America seem so 
trivial in comparison to what we are talking about in Ukraine: truckers 
coming to protest social distancing and masks and vaccine mandates? I 
am sure those are important issues, but they pale in comparison to the 
life-and-death struggle which is going on in Ukraine.
  These people understand that they must be ready to stand and die for 
their freedom. How many of us could rise to that level if challenged? 
It is something I think about a lot.