[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 47 (Wednesday, March 12, 2025)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1689-S1690]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                                Ukraine

  Mr. KELLY. Mr. President, I returned Sunday night from 2 days in 
Ukraine. It was my third trip since the war began, and it came at a 
perilous and difficult time.
  A week earlier, President Trump had blown up the meeting with 
President Zelenskyy, starting an argument in front of cameras that made 
the United States look like a weak bully. He gave away two of Ukraine's 
primary goals: regaining their territory and becoming a member of NATO. 
The result is a weakened hand in negotiations with Russia. And 
President Trump also cut off security and intelligence to Ukraine, 
leaving them blind and at risk of losing ground.
  So I made a decision to travel to Ukraine to show my support for the 
Ukrainian people and to bring back information--what I would learn on 
the ground--about how these policy changes were going to impact the 
war. What I saw showed me just why we cannot give up on the Ukrainian 
people and why it is important to our security to keep Putin from 
winning.
  Of course, the Ukrainians want this war to end. They want it to end 
more than anybody else. But any agreement has to protect Ukraine's 
security, and it can't be a giveaway to Putin.
  This war started with what Putin thought would be a 3-day operation 
to take Kyiv and then control all of Ukraine. Now we are 3 years later, 
and that hasn't happened. The Ukrainian people, with security and 
intelligence assistance from us and from our allies, have been fighting 
for every inch of their homeland. They have endured constant missile 
barrages on cities and hospitals.
  I visited one of these hospitals myself. And this hospital had been 
hit with gunfire. There were holes in the exterior walls of the 
hospital. There was a crater in the sidewalk in front of the door of 
this hospital where a mortar round landed. And there, in this hospital, 
I spoke to wounded soldiers who were eager for nothing more than to get 
back into this fight. I also met with nurses who shared their stories 
of this invasion through tears.
  They told me--this is hard to repeat on the floor of the Senate. They 
told me how they witnessed Russian soldiers raping children in front of 
their parents and then murdering these same children in front of their 
parents--horrendous war crimes which can never be forgiven.
  I met with Ukrainian pilots, one of whom I had met with in Tucson 
when he was learning to fly the F-16. I will be honest. When I first 
visited their F-16 training at Davis Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona, 
I wasn't sure that they could step up to flying the Viper. It is not an 
easy airplane to fly. And I wasn't sure that they would be effective in 
combat.
  Those pilots have more than proven themselves flying challenging 
combat missions against the Russians, who are protected by a 
considerable electronic warfare defense and a surface-to-air missile 
defense and, by the way, are also flying some pretty sophisticated 
airplanes.
  I spoke to one pilot. This guy shot down six cruise missiles and 
drones on a single mission, and he did this while carrying only four 
air-to-air missiles. So how did he do this? Well, two of the targets he 
had a gun, used the gun of the F-16 to shoot them down. That is really 
hard to do.
  My twin brother, who is also a Navy pilot, and I were both stunned. 
That is impressive. They are stepping up. Ukraine's underdog status 
against the heavyweight Russia has bred a scrappy innovation that the 
United States should envy and that we can learn from. I heard it in 
their words when they said that they would fight--get this, Mr. 
President--they said they would fight with rocks and sticks if they had 
to, to defend their country against Putin.
  And I saw it in their efforts to produce cutting-edge weapons to take 
the fight directly to the Russian enemy. They are building one-way 
attack drones at an incredible rate, especially considering that they 
stood up this production from nothing. And that is what is possible 
when hitting your production target and every single day is a matter of 
life and death. They have an innovation cycle that is measured in days, 
while ours is measured in years.
  We should learn from that because supporting Ukraine is not just 
about defending freedom. And freedom is a fundamental tenet of what 
makes America great. It is also critical to our national security and 
preventing future, bigger wars. Not only would victory make Putin 
stronger to strike further into Europe, but if the United States 
abandons Ukraine, what message does that send to our friends across the 
globe? It tells them we are untrustworthy and unreliable.
  Now, as significant as that is, the bigger deal is what we would see 
from China. The Chinese watch everything, and they want to take Taiwan. 
If they view our loyalty to our partners and allies as weak, they are 
more likely to take Taiwan by force. If that happens, this President or 
any future President will have to make one of the most consequential 
decisions in the history of our country.
  My goal is to prevent that moment. My goal in the Senate is and will 
continue to be to keep us out of wars. And I think that is true for 
most combat veterans like myself. So I came back this week with the 
message that we need to fix this mess and get back to supporting 
Ukraine.
  Now, I am glad that already there has been positive movement. The 
announcement from the American and Ukrainian negotiations in Saudi 
Arabia yesterday, led by Secretary Rubio and the National Security 
Advisor Tim Walz, was a step forward. Once again, we are supporting 
Ukraine with military security assistance and with intelligence aid, 
and we are working toward a resolution to this war that guarantees 
Ukraine's security. And Ukraine accepted a proposal for an immediate 
30-day cease-fire.
  Now, this is going to come down to whether Putin will accept these 
terms and commit to a real negotiation. So far, he has shown no 
indication that he is ready for peace. Putin started this war by 
breaking a cease-fire. He has mobilized his entire country and the help 
of other dictators like Kim Jong

[[Page S1690]]

Un to try to win this war, and every single day, his soldiers commit 
war crimes.
  Not only must he agree to the terms of this cease-fire; he has to be 
held to them by the United States and our allies. America is the 
strongest and richest country in the world. We didn't get here by being 
bullies like Vladimir Putin. We got there by leading from the front and 
bringing our allies along with us and standing by them like they stand 
by us.
  The safety and security of all of us--our kids, our grandkids--
depends on the United States continuing to keep its word, standing for 
democracy, and looking out for Americans by being smart and strong and 
standing up to the bullies. That is what I will hold this President to, 
and I urge my colleagues--Republicans and Democrats alike--to do the 
same.
  I yield the floor.