[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 15 (Tuesday, January 24, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Page S63]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                UKRAINE

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, now on another matter, it has been a 
full year since Putin escalated Russia's brutal war against Ukraine and 
nearly 9 years since he began his military effort to take over the 
sovereign country in early 2014. Putin's nonmilitary efforts to meddle 
in Ukraine, undermine it, and control its population long predated even 
2014. It has been 15 years since Putin invaded Georgia. A few years 
before that, he said publicly the breakup of the Soviet Union was ``the 
greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century.''
  The former KGB agent who has run the Kremlin for two decades has been 
very, very consistent: repression at home, aggression abroad, 
assassinations, invasions, poisonings, and political interference. And 
whenever the rest of the world responded with accommodation rather than 
with resolve, Putin drew the natural conclusion that he could do 
whatever he wanted.
  But for the past 11 months, the brave men and women in Ukraine have 
defied the odds. They have endured tremendous hardship and stood their 
ground. They have fought bravely for their families, their freedom, and 
their country.
  At every step of the way, investments from the United States and our 
allies have equipped the Ukrainian people to exact a heavy price from 
the Russian invaders. Western assistance has played a key role, but it 
has come too slowly and haltingly.
  Despite my urging the Biden administration to act sooner, aid did not 
come early enough to help Ukraine deter Putin's escalation before it 
actually happened, nor to slow down Russia's brutal and rapid advance 
in the east and the south. It has not come quickly enough to help 
Ukraine sustain counteroffensives or fully defend its cities against 
missile and drone attacks.
         
  The United States and our friends and our partners have done enough 
to prevent Ukraine from losing--from losing--but we have not yet done 
enough to help Ukraine actually win.
  A protracted stalemate is neither in Ukraine's interest nor ours. The 
solution that is both the most humane and the most advantageous to 
America's interests is quite simple: Help Ukraine win this war.
  We know what it will take to make this possible. As our colleague 
Senator Wicker said, ``We can shift this war immediately in Ukraine's 
favor by providing a range of advanced weapons, including tanks, 
drones, and tactical missiles.'' And as Chairman McCaul from the House 
said this past weekend, it is not the United States that will be 
provocative if we send stronger assistance.

       Mr. Putin is the provocative one. . . . He invaded a 
     sovereign territory, aggressively [and] unprovoked.

  Yet some of freedom's most powerful friends remain hesitant. For many 
months, Germany has not only resisted calls to send Leopard 2 tanks to 
Ukraine but has actually also prevented other European nations from 
transferring their own German-produced Leopards to Ukraine. Time is 
short, and while Berlin agonizes over its own decision whether to 
provide Leopards to Ukraine, it should proactively and explicitly make 
clear that other allies are free to do so.
  What about the Biden administration here at home? The 
administration's latest deliveries failed to include--failed to 
include--the longer range missiles and more sophisticated munitions 
that Ukraine has been requesting literally for months--for months.
  Ukraine's brave resistance deserves our continued praise, but more 
importantly, it needs our concrete and consistent materiel support. 
Ukraine's strengths cannot keep self-deterring ourselves and letting 
the aggressors, the invaders, dictate the pace. So it is time--past 
time--for the Biden administration and our allies to get serious about 
helping Ukraine finish the job and retake their country.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Welch). The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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