[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 43 (Thursday, March 6, 2025)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1593-S1594]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                                Ukraine

  Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, I was glad to see President Zelenskyy 
clearly express his gratitude to President Trump and the American 
taxpayer for our support for the country of Ukraine over the last 3 
years.
  There has been much discussion in international communities and here 
at home on the war between Russia and Ukraine, which has now been going 
on for 3 long years. It has cost hundreds of thousands of lives on both 
sides, with millions of people displaced as a result

[[Page S1594]]

of the war. Through it all, the Ukrainian people have demonstrated 
extraordinary courage and resilience.
  But one thing is clear: It is time for the war in Ukraine to end. 
President Trump is right. But the more difficult question is, How?
  Years ago, I recall GEN David Petraeus, the leader of our military 
and Central Command, heading up our efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan, 
was asked the question: How does the war end?
  He said: You tell me how the war ends. Wars are easy to start and 
hard to conclude.
  This is the most difficult question of all--how does it end?
  We should all be grateful to President Trump for taking on the 
difficult but essential task of brokering a peace agreement to end this 
devastating war. During the contentious meeting at the Oval Office last 
week, President Trump commented that he hoped to ``be known and 
recognized as a peacemaker.'' Well, this would be no small feat, but it 
is the right position to take.
  It is not hard to look at this incredible devastation--the massive 
casualties, the human misery and suffering of the last 3 years--and 
understand that it is time for the bloodshed to end. But it will take 
both sides, Ukraine and Russia, to accomplish this goal. Ukraine cannot 
do it on its own.
  President Trump was correct to point out to President Zelenskyy last 
week during this high-intensity meeting in the Oval Office--he said: I 
have to align myself with both of you in order to make a deal.
  President Trump's skill at making deals is famous, but this would be 
the crowning achievement of his life if he is able to make this happen.
  But the point is, in order to achieve a lasting peace, both sides of 
the conflict must be willing to sit down and negotiate and make 
concessions no matter how hard that is.
  I am glad to see that President Zelenskyy has indicated a willingness 
for Ukraine to do so in part through a critical minerals arrangement 
with the U.S. Government. Such a deal would compensate the United 
States and its taxpayers for our many years of military and economic 
support for Ukraine. It would actually be a vested interest that the 
United States would have every reason to want to protect in the future. 
Some have called that an implicit security arrangement.
  Perhaps most importantly, though, in order to ensure a lasting peace, 
there must be some real and tangible and enforceable security 
assurances for Ukraine. To put this in the proper context, we have to 
consider history, the events that led us up to this point.
  In 1994, the United States, Russia, and Britain signed something 
called the Budapest Memorandum. This was shortly after the fall of the 
Soviet Union. As the Soviet Union broke up, it turned out that Ukraine, 
which was formerly part of the Soviet Union, had the third largest 
nuclear weapons stockpile in the world.
  The Budapest Memorandum was an agreement between the United States, 
the United Kingdom, and Russia that if Ukraine would give up its 
nuclear weapons, its territorial integrity and independence would be 
preserved and respected.
  This was a historic point in world history. It was an important step 
toward nuclear nonproliferation and prevented the rise of a major third 
nuclear power in Eastern Europe. But, unfortunately, Russia proceeded 
to violate that same agreement in 2014 with the annexation of the 
Crimean Peninsula, and then, as we know, the Russian Government, led by 
Mr. Putin, violated that agreement a second time in February of 2022 
with its invasion of Ukraine.
  If Russia was unwilling to honor the commitments it made in the 
Budapest Memorandum in 1994 by its invasion of Crimea in 2014 and its 
invasion of Ukraine as a nation in 2022, how can Ukraine be assured 
that Russia will honor a peace agreement brokered in 2025? That, 
perhaps, is the single most important question that we need to ask.
  Given the history and pattern of behavior by Russia, if Zelenskyy 
does not receive adequate security assurances, will this incentivize 
him to do other things to protect and preserve his nation--for example, 
to reacquire a nuclear weapons program against an existential threat? 
We know that President Zelenskyy himself has floated this as a 
possibility, and more recently, the newly elected Chancellor of Germany 
had suggested that both Germany and the United Kingdom would share, 
perhaps, their nuclear weapons capabilities with Ukraine, which would 
be a dramatic and dangerous development.
  But that is not all. We have to keep in mind that both President 
Zelenskyy and President Putin are not fighting this war in some sort of 
vacuum. Allies of the United States and adversaries alike around the 
world are watching.
  Will our actions in Ukraine suggest to allies in South Korea, for 
example, that they should pursue their own nuclear weapon capability, 
especially in light of the North Korean nuclear program, which receives 
Russian assistance?
  Will more citizens of Taiwan cast their vote for representatives 
pushing closer alignment with the People's Republic of China as the 
most prudent way for their people to maintain a guarantee against a 
catastrophic war in the Indo-Pacific?
  Seeing that unanswered aggression is awarded, would President Xi be 
emboldened to seize Taiwan, as he has made clear he intends to do one 
way or the other?
  These are just a few of the unintended consequences that could play 
out depending on how these peace negotiations transpire and how they 
develop.
  We, the duly-elected representatives of the American people, must ask 
ourselves: Will a world of unreliable security assurances, of greater 
prospects of nuclear proliferation, of insufficient deterrence in the 
face of unprovoked aggression, result in a safer world for our children 
and grandchildren?
  Well, given these difficult but necessary questions, I would once 
again applaud President Trump for taking the initiative of embracing 
peace through strength. His approach is the correct one, and he is 
right that an important piece of this is that our NATO allies--who, in 
fact, live in Europe, where Ukraine is located--need to increase their 
contribution to our collective security under the North Atlantic Treaty 
alliance. It is through strength we can guarantee peace both in Europe 
and around the world.
  The suffering resulting from the Russian invasion of Ukraine on two 
occasions--2014 and 2022--has been devastating not only for Ukrainians 
but also for Russians as well, who have lost hundreds of thousands of 
casualties in the process.
  President Trump pointed out during the meeting with President 
Zelenskyy that both sides are losing ``1,000, 2,000`` soldiers a week. 
``As we sit here and talk, people are being shot and dying on the 
battlefield.''
  What President Trump is doing to secure peace in this dangerous world 
is an act of moral leadership and I believe divinely inspired.
  Jesus said in the Beatitudes:

       Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons 
     of God.

  If President Trump is successful in securing a lasting peace, I, for 
one, think he will have earned the Nobel Peace Prize.
  As President Zelenskyy himself said in the Oval Office--he said:

       If President Trump [can] bring peace to our country, I 
     think he will be on this wall.

  He was, of course, referring to the walls of the Oval Office. They 
have pictures of historic American Presidents who have done great and 
important things.
  It is my sincere hope that President Zelenskyy and President Putin 
will both accept the olive branch offered by President Trump by coming 
to the table and by making the necessary, enforceable concessions to 
ensure a lasting peace.
  I yield the floor.
  Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  (Mr. CORNYN assumed the Chair.)
  Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Hagerty). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.