[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 194 (Wednesday, December 14, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7181-S7184]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                                Ukraine

  Mr. PORTMAN. Mr. President, I come to the floor for the 28th 
consecutive week since the Senate has been in session to once again 
discuss the war in Ukraine and why it is so important that all of us--
the United States and our allies--stand up for Ukraine at this point 
and provide them the military, economic, and humanitarian aid they 
need.
  Over the weekend, I spoke at the annual holiday lunch of the 
Cleveland area's Nationalities Movement. As my colleague from Ohio 
knows, this was started during the Cold War to advocate for freedom for 
the former Soviet states. The group, today, includes people whose 
families have come from all over Eastern and Central Europe: Poland, 
Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Slovakia, of course Ukraine, and many other 
countries. All strongly support Ukrainian freedom and the right of 
Ukraine to chart its own course.
  At the luncheon, I talked to some of my friends who were there, many 
of whom have family or friends in Ukraine. We talked about some of the 
hardships that their relatives and their friends in Ukraine are facing 
today and how, as we approach the holiday season here in America, we 
are thinking about Christmas shopping and putting up decorations and 
spending time with our families and friends over the holidays. They are 
thinking about something else. They are thinking about how they can 
survive. They are thinking about how to stay warm, whether they are 
going to have running water or electricity. They are living with fear 
and uncertainty in not knowing when the next Russian missile might 
strike.
  The brutal, unprovoked, and illegal invasion of Ukraine has now 
turned into an outright attack on civilians and noncombatants.
  This photo is something that we are seeing in communities all over 
Ukraine. This is some civilian infrastructure. You can see the power 
grid here and the power lines. This was the result of a Russian missile 
strike. All over, this is happening: drones, missiles, attacking 
infrastructure--killing civilians, by the way--and forcing people to 
live in the dark and in the cold as Ukraine's severe winter weather 
approaches.
  Although these merciless Russian attacks are meant to weaken the 
resolve of the Ukrainians, it is not having that effect, actually. I 
have seen this from my recent trips to Ukraine. It is actually 
hardening people's resolve. The Ukrainians know that these are 
desperate missile attacks to the interior of the country. Why? Because 
Russia is losing on the actual battlefield.
  As this map shows, the Ukrainians have shown courage and 
effectiveness in actually pushing out Russia from all of these red 
areas of Ukraine. This is where Russia was after February 24. Fifty 
percent or more of the country has now been liberated by Ukrainian 
troops. We forget about that. About 55 percent of Ukraine has now been 
liberated--again, thanks to the resolve and the courage and the 
military skill of the Ukrainians. Ukrainian soldiers continue to 
advance more slowly, but they continue to advance, giving the Russians 
no time to relax or to recover.

[[Page S7182]]

  Here is where we are today. Remember, before, there was red all over 
the country of Ukraine. This is where the Russians are now. This 
striped red line is the part that Russia invaded back in 2014. The red 
part here is where they invaded on February 24 and are still occupying 
parts of Ukraine.
  In the east, near Bakhmut, which is right here, Russian forces and 
Wagner Group mercenaries, who are fighting on behalf of Russia, are 
fighting a war of attrition. It is a grinding war of attrition with 
marginal gains to show for their massive losses in terms of manpower 
and equipment.
  In its attempt to capture this town of Bakhmut, Russia has turned 
what used to be a quaint, tree-lined city that I visited back in 2018 
into a bloodbath. This is what Bakhmut looks like today. It looks like 
something you would see out of a World War I film.
  Ukrainian officials say Moscow is now losing 50 soldiers a day to 
maintain this slow, bruising advance to reach the city's eastern 
gates--all of this death and destruction over a city that has marginal 
strategic advantage for Russia. It appears to observers that Russia is 
willing to put their soldiers and mercenaries in harm's way in Bakhmut 
because it is the only place that Russian forces are genuinely 
advancing at all, and Vladimir Putin is eager--even desperate--to claim 
some sort of victory to try to salvage this failed military campaign 
that they are on.
  I did go to Bakhmut back in 2018. It was then called the line of 
contact. I met with Ukrainian troops who were there holding the line, 
including the 54th Mechanized Brigade, which is still fighting there in 
that region. I saw men who were willing to die for their country, for 
their freedom, for their families. So I was not surprised by the 
bravery and resolve that the Ukrainian troops had shown since February 
24. I was expecting it based on what I had seen in Bakhmut.

  Those soldiers I met gave me this plaque when I was there. It is 
signed by a number of the soldiers whom I met.
  It says at the bottom here:

       Glory to Ukraine. Glory to the heroes.

  ``Slava Ukraini.'' ``Heroyam Slava.''
  That is the rallying cry.
  Of these troops who signed this flag to me, I am told, many of them 
are likely to be dead or injured now because the fighting in Bakhmut 
has been so intense.
  So Godspeed to those troops who are holding the line against this 
Russian assault tonight as we talk on the floor of the U.S. Senate.
  The Ukrainians are making progress elsewhere. You see here in 
Kherson--this was the city that the Russians took on February 24. It 
was the only provincial capital that they took, the biggest city they 
took early on. They have now abandoned Kherson, and Ukrainian troops 
have taken Kherson and liberated it. The liberation has been 
extraordinary. You see people coming out of their homes and hugging the 
troops, and you see the war crimes that the Russians were committing. 
The withdrawal from Kherson that went through the west side of the 
river here has been a great victory for the Ukrainian troops. The 
relentless counteroffensive is actually working.
  With this situation on the battlefield, the military outlook here for 
Russia looks bleak. It is precisely because they are not winning on the 
battlefield, though, that they are instead attacking civilian targets, 
these cowardly attacks we have seen all over Ukraine--electricity, 
natural gas, water--knocking out everything they can in order to try to 
break the will and the resolve of the people of Ukraine.
  This past weekend, 1.5 million people were left without power after 
Russian airstrikes damaged the local energy infrastructure in Odessa. 
So 1.5 million people here were without electricity. Most of those 
people now have electricity again because the Ukrainians are moving 
quickly to try to restore it, but then it is bombed again and again.
  Across the country, according to Ukrainian Prime Minister Shmyhal, 
after eight waves of missile attacks on the country, all thermal and 
hydroelectric powerplants in Ukraine have been damaged. In other words, 
every single powerplant--coal, natural gas, hydroelectric--has been 
bombed. Again, many have now been repaired again and again and again, 
but the bombings continue.
  Last Friday, according to the deputy head of President Zelenskyy's 
office, 68 strikes in the Kherson region occurred--68 strikes across 
the line here in Ukrainian territory. This included a strike on a 
hospital in Kherson that damaged the children's ward. It included an 
attack on a morgue in this area.
  In the northeastern part of Ukraine, up here near Kharkiv, there has 
also been great progress recently as you see where the Ukrainians have 
pushed the Russians toward the east. These Russian cross-border attacks 
on the city of Vovchansk, in that area, left thousands of people 
without heat in the midst of winter earlier this week.
  I saw the effects of these missile attacks firsthand the last time I 
was in Ukraine. I visited Kyiv about a month ago with my colleague 
Senator Chris Coons from Delaware. We saw the destruction that these 
missiles were causing. In this case, it was at the headquarters of 
Ukraine's utility company.
  We then, after that, actually had a dinner meeting with the 
Parliamentarians from Ukraine at a restaurant where the power had been 
taken out through these attacks. We had to conduct business with 
flashlights. It was incredible, later that night, to look at the city 
of Kyiv from an office building--a modern, 21st-century city completely 
dark.
  Thanks to the dated air defense systems that they do have, the 
Ukrainians have been able to intercept and destroy a lot of these 
Russian missiles. They are intercepting, actually, most of them--
somewhere between 60 and 70 percent, probably, based on the information 
I have--but enough of them get through to cause this incredible damage 
to Ukraine's civilian infrastructure and to kill Ukrainians on the 
ground as these temperatures drop. The temperature in Kyiv tonight, as 
we talk here, is about 23 degrees Fahrenheit.
  Ukraine isn't just trying to shoot down Russian-made missiles and 
Iranian-made drones--we know there are Iranian-made drones and these 
Russian missiles coming into Ukraine--but they also have to shoot down 
Ukrainian-made missiles. Why do I say that? Because according to 
Ukraine's Deputy Intelligence Chief, some of these missiles that Russia 
has fired recently have actually been missiles that Ukraine voluntarily 
gave to Russia as part of the 1994 Budapest agreement, the so-called 
Budapest Memorandum.
  Recall that the Budapest Memorandum was a document that was signed by 
the United States, the UK, and Russia with Ukraine. This was after the 
fall of the Soviet Union. In the agreement, all parties, including 
Russia, promised to respect the independence and sovereignty and 
territorial integrity of Ukraine in exchange for Ukraine's giving up 
its nuclear weapons but also providing missiles and strategic bombers 
to Russia. So now these very same missiles and very same bombers are 
being used by Russia in its ruthless campaign against innocent 
civilians in Ukraine.
  There can be no clearer display of Russia's contempt for its 
international obligations and its total disregard for the Budapest 
Memorandum. Ukraine gave up its weapons in exchange for peace, and 
instead they have war.
  There can be no more urgent or important request from Ukraine today, 
of course, than that of a better air defense system. That is what they 
need more than anything else. Every day, vital infrastructure is being 
destroyed, and civilians are being killed.
  The news from the Biden administration yesterday that they now may be 
thinking seriously about sending Patriot missile systems to Ukraine, 
which is our most advanced anti-missile air defense weapon, is very 
encouraging to me.
  Here is the patriot missile system.
  This one is actually in Poland. We have provided this to the Polish 
Government. We now need to provide it to the Ukrainian Government. I 
have called for this for months, as have others, and I hope this comes 
to fruition.
  We need to get these weapons into the hands of the Ukrainians quickly 
before there are more civilian deaths recorded, before there is more 
destruction of key infrastructure.
  If the administration does not do this, I fear that as winter sets 
in, more and more Ukrainians will be forced to leave their communities, 
compounding

[[Page S7183]]

the humanitarian crisis that is already there. As you know, there are 
6\1/2\ million people displaced internally in Ukraine already and over 
7 million people--probably close to 8 million--who are outside of 
Ukraine as displaced individuals in places like Poland, throughout the 
EU, and even the United States.
  I continue to urge the Biden administration to take a more assertive 
approach on military assistance in general. There are about 50 
countries helping Ukraine on the military side. All the free world is 
stepping up to help, but America leads, and we need to provide Ukraine 
with more of the weapons that Ukraine says they actually need, like the 
Patriot missiles. But, also, they have asked for fourth-generation 
fighter jets, like the F-16 or similar European models. They are in 
Europe already. We have provided them to European countries, but we 
have to sign off for the European countries or other countries to 
provide them to Ukraine. They want modern main battle tanks, like the 
Abrams tank that is made in my home State of Ohio. They want more long-
range missiles, like the ATACMS missiles that can be fired through 
these what are called HIMARS launchers and would give Russian soldiers 
few places to hide in the illegally occupied territory.
  When I visited the region in March and again in May and August and in 
November, I got to meet a lot of these displaced people in Ukraine and 
hear their harrowing stories.
  We were at a World Food U.N. site in Kyiv on our last trip, and there 
were a lot of refugees there, displaced people, internally displaced 
people from Ukraine who were getting the basics just to be able to 
survive. Many of them sat down with us and talked.
  Two women told me one of these harrowing stories. It was about a 
young man who was tortured by his Russian occupiers--this was near the 
city of Kharkiv--and taken to the main square and tied up on the main 
square. Then, when he wouldn't answer whatever questions they were 
asking him, he was taken down below into a dungeon, basically, a 
basement. They found these basement chambers all over Ukraine where 
there was occupied territory.
  The young man actually survived, miraculously, but he was in terrible 
shape when he came out. But his mother didn't survive. The angst and 
the anxiety and the despair that she felt about her son resulted in her 
death.
  These women were telling this with tears streaming down their cheeks, 
and, of course, we were crying, too. But that is happening all over 
Ukraine.
  These war crimes behind enemy lines in occupied territories are 
revealed every time there is a liberation. It is positive there is a 
liberation, but then you get this negative, which is, this is what 
happened to these people. So we really don't know the extent of the 
atrocities and the war crimes because there is still so much territory 
that is occupied by Russia.
  Anyway, these people have seen death and destruction that no person 
should have to experience.
  Some of my constituents in Ohio have been very helpful. They know 
some of these refugees. They have personal connections--again, family 
or friends--and so they have helped. From Northeast Ohio, where we have 
a big Ukrainian community, Marta Licsynesky of the United Ukrainian 
Organizations of Ohio and Andy Futey of the Ukrainian Congress 
Committee of America--they are presidents of those organizations--they 
have both jumped in with both feet and helped. MedWish, which is a 
great organization up in Cleveland, provided a lot of medical 
equipment. They have provided everything--clothes, medicine, any kind 
of help for these refugees. They have provided armored vests from law 
enforcement all over Ohio, as an example, to the Territorial Defense 
Forces. So God bless them. They are doing what they can to help.
  But unless we intervene with better ways to defend the air, there 
will be more and more of these displaced people and more and more 
humanitarian needs.
  On that front, in addition to the possible news about the Patriot 
missile system from yesterday, I was also pleased to hear President 
Biden and President Zelenskyy speak over the weekend about the need for 
increased support for Ukraine. On Friday, the administration announced 
another $275 million in military assistance, including more ammunition 
for those HIMARS missile launchers we talked about and other systems 
that will counter Russian and Iranian drones. There are dozens of 
allies who have provided military assistance--we are not doing this 
alone--but U.S. leadership has been key.

  By the way, the 20 HIMARS--high mobility artillery rocket systems--
that are in Ukraine have all survived. Not a single one has been taken 
out by the Russians. It is amazing. The Ukrainians have been quite 
resourceful to make that happen, and thank God we still have those 
weapons. Germany and the UK have also provided some of these weapons, 
and they are making a huge difference on the battlefield.
  The long range and high precision of these weapons have enabled the 
Ukrainians to strike deep within the occupied territories to be able to 
disrupt Russian logistics and command and control centers. That has 
made the big difference. That is how Kherson was taken, was they cut 
off the supply chain to Kherson to the point that these Russian 
soldiers could not continue to hold the city and continue with their 
atrocities.
  It is no wonder, by the way, that HIMARS are popular in Ukraine. In 
fact, when I was there, the Embassy staff sent out for some takeout 
food. The food came back in a bag--it was hamburgers--and on the bag 
was scrawled ``Thank you for the HIMARS'' from a restaurant worker. I 
am also told that ``HIMARS'' is now a popular name for Ukrainian 
newborns. They are naming their children after the weapons provided by 
this body because they are making a huge difference in saving lives.
  In addition to Patriot missiles, we have got to continue to provide 
Ukrainians with other air defense systems, like the midrange NASAMS 
system that we are starting to provide, but also cost-effective 
electronic warfare systems that would enable Ukraine to defend its 
skies over the long term. Those can be very effective against drones, 
as you can imagine.
  We have seen this before. In 1940, the people of Great Britain 
suffered under a relentless bombardment from Nazi aircraft. Remember, 
they tried to bomb London into the stone age. At the time, many 
thought, Well, this is going to be the end of Great Britain. You can't 
push back against these Nazis.
  But the Brits were resolute. They were defiant. Eventually, the Royal 
Air Force defeated Hitler's onslaught against innocent civilians in 
what is called the Battle of Britain and ensured that the country would 
survive the war. And, of course, the United States got engaged, and we 
went on to win that conflict.
  Today, just as then, there is another indiscriminate bombing campaign 
going on, this time in Ukraine against civilians and civilian 
infrastructure. Ukraine is now fighting its own Battle of Britain. We 
have got to be sure we are there with them to provide them what they 
need to survive their battle.
  I was also pleased to learn this week that the European Union 
proposed a new round of sanctions. If it is agreed to by the member 
states--and I hope it will be--this package of sanctions would ban 
exports of drone engines to Russia and also include other prohibitions 
that would hopefully stifle Russia's ability to supply its military.
  This is very important. In my view, it should have happened a long 
time ago, but let's do it now. Let's cut off the ability for Russia to 
be able to repair and recreate the drones that are getting destroyed by 
the Ukrainians. Let's be sure that we are not giving the Russians what 
they need to continue their war machine.
  Russia's assault, by the way, is not just limited to bombs and 
missiles, but I am hearing more and more about mines. According to 
reports, Russian forces have now endangered up to 65,000 square miles 
of Ukrainian territory with land mines. The United States is partnering 
with our Ukrainian allies to demine that area. This aid has come in the 
form of training and equipment, as well as U.S.-funded contractors and 
demining teams. So in areas where the mines are on the Ukrainian side 
of the line, we are actively trying to help. This is an important step, 
in my view. It is kind of the first step toward Ukrainian 
reconstruction.

[[Page S7184]]

  When Russia resorts to these cowardly missile attacks on civilian 
targets, Ukraine has responded in kind with precise strikes on Russian 
military targets. So Russia is attacking civilian targets, and 
Ukrainians are responding with targeted attacks on Russian military 
targets.
  For example, explosions have occurred here. This is Ukraine. This is 
the occupied area. Explosions have occurred deep in Russian territory 
here.
  What are those areas? Well, these are Russian air bases deep inside 
Russian territory, but they are home to the bombers who have been 
targeting civilian infrastructure and killing Ukrainian civilians with 
cruise missiles over the past couple of months.
  As the UK Ministry of Defense reported last week, these may be ``some 
of the most strategically significant failures of force protection 
since [Russia's] invasion of Ukraine.''
  Over the weekend, Ukraine launched a series of HIMARS strikes on the 
Russian occupied city of Melitopol, which is here, including a strike 
on Russian military barracks that reportedly killed a lot of the Wagner 
mercenaries. This is in this area here.
  America has been blessed with big, wide oceans on our east and to our 
west and friendly neighbors to our north and our south. It is hard for 
us to grasp what they are going through. It is hard for us to grasp 
what it is like to have a war ravage your homeland and force you to 
leave your home.
  Russia's atrocities and clear human rights violations against 
civilians are one compelling reason why supporting Ukraine is the right 
thing to do, and I hope this week in this Chamber we will once again 
provide support for Ukraine.
  But another reason is that the death and destruction are not likely 
to end in Ukraine. Vladimir Putin is on record as saying, ``The borders 
of Russia have no end.'' He and his senior officials have also talked 
about recreating the old Soviet empire. They have said that Ukraine is 
just the first step.

  I will tell you, other countries in Eastern Europe get that, and they 
are understandably quite nervous. That is why they stepped up big time 
to help Ukraine. That is why they have increased their own military 
spending. That is why they have expanded their military cooperation 
with the United States. Think of Poland, Slovakia, Romania, Hungary, 
Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia--they are all doing that. Finland and Sweden 
certainly understand how dangerous Russia has become, which is why they 
have now decided they are going to join NATO after years of 
neutrality--Finland, Sweden.
  In my view, the only way to get Vladimir Putin to back off and to 
negotiate an end to this ruthless and senseless war is to continue to 
demonstrate unity among free nations, to tighten the sanctions on the 
Russian economy, and to continue to help Ukraine win on the 
battlefield. That is how this thing ends--through success. U.S. 
leadership and assistance is key to that strategy.
  I am not advocating a blank check, by the way. I hope nobody is. I 
believe there needs to be accountability for the assistance that we 
provide, and there is. There is accountability on the state aid, there 
is accountability on the humanitarian aid, and there is accountability 
on the military aid.
  I have seen it in action in meeting with the 101st Airborne in 
Poland, how they have end-use monitoring of the equipment we are 
sending. The Ukrainians themselves want to have transparency. They 
understand how important that is. That is why they have Deloitte 
Cincinnati, an American accounting firm, involved in monitoring and 
providing reports. That is why we are running our assistance through 
the World Bank, where they are auditing and reporting back to us. That 
is important to do.
  But the alternative to helping Ukraine, to me, is unthinkable. What 
would have happened if the United States had said ``We are not going to 
help here'' and the rest of the world had said ``Well, if the Americans 
aren't going to step forward and provide some leadership, we are not 
going to either''?
  First of all, it is clear to all of us that this country would be 
occupied by Russia today. And even if Russia didn't go ahead and move 
into all these other countries they say they are going to move into--
that Ukraine is just the first step and they want to recreate the 
empire or the Soviet Union--even if it is just Ukraine and they stopped 
at the Ukrainian borders, suddenly you would have three NATO countries 
that have a border with Russia that do not now and really a fourth 
because all Poland has is a very small outpost of Russia here.
  So you would suddenly have NATO country the United States, under 
article V, is committed to protecting with an aggressive Russia on its 
border. We would be mobilizing thousands of troops. We would have 
massive amounts of weapons at the borders of these NATO allies at a 
tremendous cost to the U.S. taxpayer. Is that a better alternative than 
helping give Ukraine the tools they need to be able to do their own 
fighting, which has been successful up to now--more successful than 
anyone could have imagined?
  Finally, I would say that allowing an authoritarian regime to take 
over an ally and a democracy with impunity--that sends exactly the 
wrong message to the rest the world at a time we can least afford to 
have that happen.
  Think about China. China is eyeing a potential military assault on 
Taiwan. Think about our ally Israel as they continue to face threats 
from Iran and others in the Middle East.

  Both our adversaries and our allies are watching to see if the United 
States and our allies will help maintain that post-World War II world 
order or whether it is each country for itself. And if it is each 
country for itself because we aren't helping Ukraine, the 
militarization around the world increases dramatically, as do the 
nuclear weapons.
  Ukraine just wants to live in peace with its neighbors, including 
Russia. But when attacked by Russian missiles and drones, Ukraine has 
fought to ensure that the flame of freedom here is not going to go out. 
From visits, I can say with certainty that they will never give up. And 
we must not give up on them.
  The Ukrainian people tasted freedom when they embarked on their own 
Revolution of Dignity, as they call it, back in 2014. They threw off a 
Russian-backed corrupt government and, instead, embraced the West, the 
European Union, the United States of America, freedom, democracy, free 
markets. Ukraine chose to stand with us, with Europe, the United 
States, and other free nations. This is not the time for the United 
States and its allies to stand down.
  So for my current colleagues and the Senators just elected, I urge 
you: Let's continue our support for Ukraine in this worthy cause of 
protecting freedom.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority leader.

                          ____________________