[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 34 (Monday, February 26, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Pages S976-S977]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                                Ukraine

  Madam President, on Ukraine, this past weekend I led a congressional 
delegation--unlike any I have been a part of before--to visit with the 
people of Ukraine as they marked 2 years since the start of Putin's 
illegal invasion. It was one of the most memorable and moving trips I 
have ever been on--3 days that will stay with me for the rest of my 
life.
  We traveled to Ukraine because we all felt a deep obligation to be 
there on the ground now as the war reaches a pivotal turning point. As 
President Zelenskyy said to us: If Ukraine gets the armaments they 
need, they will win the war. But if they don't get those armaments, 
they will lose.
  We went because this is an inflection point in history. The future of 
Ukraine--but not just Ukraine, Western democracy--hangs in the balance. 
We went because the Ukrainian people needed to hear directly from us 
that America stands by their side, that we will not turn our backs on 
them during their fight for survival. And we went because the nations 
of Europe must know that America will not abandon them, that we must 
stay part of NATO, and that we in the Senate will ensure the greatest 
alliance the world has ever known remains strong and remains 
prosperous.
  I thank my colleagues who joined our codel: Senators Reed and 
Blumenthal, Bennet, and Hassan. It was an immensely productive, 
insightful, sobering trip. We were honored, above all, to meet with 
President Zelenskyy, whose courage and resolve are an inspiration. He 
was an amazing man. He still has strength. He still has that optimism 
that Ukraine can win this war, and he keeps the people together. To 
watch him was awe-inspiring, a man with so much on his shoulders moving 
forward, doing the right thing, and doing it with vigor and without 
complaint.
  As I mentioned, during our meeting, the President was blunt. He said: 
If Ukraine gets the aid currently stalled in the House, they will win 
the war. But he also said that if Congress does not pass the 
supplemental with all the ammo and anti-air defenses and long-range 
artillery it would provide, they will lose. It was that simple: With 
aid, Ukraine wins. Without it, they lose.
  And we learned about the details of what they need. I spoke to a 
Ukrainian army officer. Their drones are extremely--extremely--precise. 
In fact, they are probably even better than the ones we have now. And 
the drones can find out where the Russian artillery is, exactly and 
precisely, but then they

[[Page S977]]

don't have the ammo to take out that Russian artillery because they 
lack that ammo. It is so frustrating to this soldier who is doing his 
job, risking his life.
  Then we heard another instance that Ukrainian artillery is not as 
long range now--because we haven't given them what they need, and it is 
in the supplemental--as the Russian artillery. So the Russian artillery 
can fire and take out Ukrainian artillery, but then Ukrainian artillery 
can't fire back because they don't have the reach of the Russian 
artillery. We heard these stories over and over again.
  We learned how the withdrawal of Avdiivka is, in large part, a 
consequence of insufficient weaponry. The top Ukrainian generals told 
us, if they would have had adequate armaments, Avdiivka would not have 
fallen. And now they are being pushed back on the front but only 
because--not because they lack courage, not because they lack strength, 
not because they lack good leadership but only because they don't have 
the weaponry they need.
  We must help them, and any American who thinks, ``Oh, this is far 
away. It doesn't matter,'' hasn't learned the lessons--learned the 
lessons of 1938 and 1960. It is not an exact analogy, of course. But 
back then, people said: Oh, this is far away. We don't have to pay 
attention. And in both instances, Americans paid for that lack of 
foresight, that lack of strength, that lack of vision with lives and of 
course billions and trillions of dollars spent--certainly billions in 
those days.
  So there was no moment more heart-wrenching, no moment better 
crystalized the stakes and cost of the war than with the new head of 
the Ukrainian army, General Syrskyi. We paid a visit to the cemetery 
dedicated to the courageous Ukrainian dead. Four months earlier, he 
told us, it was just a parking lot in Lviv, but they needed a place to 
bury so many of the dead. And we walked up and down the grave sites and 
saw the pictures--of men, women, young, old--of the dead. On their 
tombstones, there is a picture of each one. Then, if you look across 
the way, Ukrainians were busy digging more graves for those they knew 
who would die in the next few weeks.
  It was an amazing, moving moment of the stalwartness of the Ukrainian 
people, the bravery of the Ukrainian people.
  So I believe that if every Congress Member saw what we saw, heard 
what we heard, learned what we learned, they would understand the 
urgency of passing the supplemental. With this urgent aid package, 
Congress has a chance to ensure Ukraine wins the war, to ensure Putin 
is not victorious, to ensure that Western democracy can thrive in the 
21st century.
  And let me say that if our allies see that America doesn't support 
its ally Ukraine, they will no longer be our allies. They will know 
that they cannot depend on America. And even worse, if the autocrats 
and vicious dictators like Putin, like Xi, like the heads of North 
Korea and Iran see that the United States will turn away from a 
challenge like this, they will be emboldened.
  So anyone who thinks that, ``Oh, this is far away, this does not have 
consequences for the American people,'' they are wrong. If we turn away 
from Ukraine over the next decade and several decades, the American 
people and America will pay the price diplomatically, politically, 
economically, and militarily.
  It is a moment. History is looking at us.
  So we must do it. I urge Speaker Johnson to go visit and see what I 
saw. No person of any decent conscience and sight would vote no if they 
saw what we saw. I hope the Speaker does the right thing. I hope he 
puts the supplemental that we passed here in the Senate with 70 votes 
on the floor of the House. I am confident--absolutely confident that if 
Speaker Johnson were to put this supplemental on the floor, it would 
pass with strong bipartisan support like it did in the Senate.
  I hope, I pray, for the sake of our values, for the sake of our 
country, for the sake of the brave people in Ukraine and those who have 
died in this war--I hope Speaker Johnson recognizes that history is 
watching us and watching him; that the world is watching; that if he 
does the wrong thing, I am confident he will regret it in the years to 
come, no matter what the political outcome. And I am hopeful that 
Speaker Johnson will not just in blind obeisance to Donald Trump do 
what just about everyone who studies this issue knows is the wrong 
thing and not give Ukraine the aid it needs.