[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 16 (Wednesday, January 25, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Page S79]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                UKRAINE

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, here on the floor yesterday, I called 
on America's European allies, including Germany, to do more to equip 
Ukraine with long-requested tanks, not just to resist Russian 
aggression but to defeat it.
  I have consistently called on the Biden administration to be more 
proactive and to lead by example in delivering lethal aid, like the 
long-range weapons, with a greater sense of urgency.
  I was happy to learn yesterday and this morning that, indeed, both 
the White House and their counterparts in Germany are finally moving 
forward with these overdue steps.
  Germany has announced it will supply Ukraine with an initial 14 
Leopard 2 tanks, and the Biden administration is expected to send at 
least 30 M1 Abrams tanks as well. Good news.
  Now that Berlin has taken this step, I hope and expect that Germany 
and other European countries with tanks in their inventory will move 
expeditiously to send them to Ukraine.
  Modern main battle tanks will provide highly maneuverable armored 
firepower that will help Ukraine liberate territory and keep pressure 
on the Russian aggressors, but, as I have said repeatedly, time is of 
the essence.
  Of course, as we rush these long-overdue capabilities to Ukraine, the 
West's work is far from over. These drawdowns of Western arsenals must 
also prompt serious work to expand the capacity of our defense 
industrial base. The Biden administration's efforts on this front are 
overdue but important, and I hope more of our allies will follow 
through by moving quickly to put critical munitions and weapons systems 
under contract and expanding each of their industrial capacities.

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