[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 70 (Monday, April 28, 2025)]
[House]
[Pages H1677-H1680]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
SUPPORTING UKRAINE'S INDEPENDENCE
(Under the Speaker's announced policy of January 3, 2025, Ms. Kaptur
of Ohio was recognized for 30 minutes.)
Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, this evening, along with several colleagues,
I am here to discuss Ukraine and the necessity of Ukraine winning the
war
[[Page H1678]]
against Russia's invasion. I will be joined by Congressman Mike
Quigley of Illinois and Congresswoman Madeleine Dean of Pennsylvania.
As I begin, please let me remind the President of our country, our
Vice President, and Secretary of State that freedom means never
surrender. Liberty must never capitulate to dictatorship. America does
not live alone on this Earth. Our Nation lives in a free world
alliance, and this alliance is being tested globally every single day.
Especially America's leaders cannot turn their back to Russia's
murderous forces bearing down including illegally on Ukraine. History
is clear. The dictatorship of Russia takes what is not theirs. Russia
invades territory that does not belong to it.
If one looks at this map, Russia is a vast country of 11 time zones.
It does not lack for territory. Here is Ukraine. Just think about that.
West of that lies Europe. Study the map. Mr. Speaker, if you know
nothing about Europe and that vast continent, think about 11 time zones
and then our closest allies in the free world. Let that settle.
The facts speak for themselves. If my colleagues need more proof, ask
Poland, Georgia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and a dozen other
countries that Russia covets. They cast off the Russian bear just a few
decades ago, and Russia wants them back.
Russia taunts our closest military allies across the European
Continent. Together, we and our allies honor our collective memory of
our collective sacrifice and bloodshed that built the free world that
the generation before us gave us.
The Trump administration has proposed that the United States abandon
and even scold our European allies. Let me be clear. Our Nation
intergenerationally and painstakingly has built the North Atlantic
Treaty Organization, a global fortress of democratic nations.
Across Europe, from the ruins of World War I and World War II lie the
precious graves of 411,516 American soldiers and--no one knows
exactly--35 million to 50 million Europeans who died fighting or in the
crossfire.
These heroes and heroines fought for the cause of liberty. Then they
built a world order in which they attempted to enshrine it. Forged from
that coalition of suffering, our joint commitment to defend freedom
above all else prevails.
This moment for Ukraine--Russia and Ukraine--is a key moment in
history. It is our generation's crucial test of freedom or subjugation.
No succor can be allowed to a murderous dictatorship, no matter how
many of Russia's rich oligarchs seek to plunder and steal from the
sacred soils and minerals of Ukraine. The free West must stand united
and say no.
Lovers of freedom must not ignore history. Putin's illegal invasion
of Crimea and other stolen territories in Ukraine should be forbidden
and turned back. Conquest is his perversion and his corruption. No
stolen territory from Ukraine should be ceded to Putin. Spanning 11
time zones, Russia holds enough territory.
Having traveled there many times, Vladimir Putin ought to take care
of his own country. They have got major problems. Putin should help his
own nation thrive again. He has no need for Ukraine, which is among the
poorest Nations in Europe. Look how they are fighting for liberty. It
brings tears to my eyes.
Putin's plunder seeks to reconstitute the dictatorship, the
vanquished Soviet dictatorship, that extended as far West as here. He
wants those smaller countries. He wants them back. He longs for them,
but they are not his.
Putin now issues an ultimatum. He says there will be no peace deal
unless Ukraine agrees to surrender territory that Russia ruthlessly and
illegally seized and invaded, this little country, just as he did in
Georgia.
The United States, as leader of the free world, must never, ever
genuflect to tyrants. Aggressor Putin wants the United States to walk
away from the negotiating table. According to the terms the U.S. Vice
President and Secretary of State laid out today, those terms include
ceding Ukraine's territory to Russia. I say no. Nyet. Nemaye. No.
The fact is Russia is losing the war it started without provocation.
In 2014, she began during the Olympics, so no one would notice how she
went in the back door. It is losing the war that Putin started. He
escalated it in even bloodier fashion when he initiated a full-scale
invasion in the year 2022.
Sadly, every step of the way, the Trump administration has conceded
to Putin's demands without Ukraine's consent. He cannot negotiate for
Ukraine. It is not his. Russia does not recognize international
agreements. It never has.
For example, following World War II, Russia broke its border
commitments made at the Yalta Conference with its conquest of Poland.
That caused Poland to disappear as a free nation until the very brave
``solidarity,'' ``solidarnos'c''' demonstrators in Poland trip-wired
the collapse of the Soviet Union beginning in 1989.
Then in 1994, Russia signed the Budapest Memorandum to guarantee
Ukrainian security. For that, Ukraine gave up all the nuclear weapons
that were staged in Ukraine.
In 2014, while the Olympics were ongoing in Sochi, Putin invaded
Ukraine when people were distracted around the world and later turned
that into a full-scale invasion in 2022. To his surprise, Ukraine has
held them off.
Recently, Putin even violated the cease-fire on targeting energy and
civilian infrastructure just negotiated by the Trump administration a
few weeks ago. Putin cannot keep a deal.
This should make it crystal clear that dictator Vladimir Putin and
his thug state cannot be trusted. Read history. Why would the U.S.
President, Vice President, Secretary of State, or any world
leader believe that communist dictator Vladimir Putin and the Russian
regime will hold to any peace agreement? Russia never keeps its word.
The only way to force Russia to abide by such an agreement is to
include strong security guarantees for Ukraine. The world community
must do that. A peace accord must ensure Russia will remain inside its
own borders or face serious global sanctions, so severe they will
cripple and collapse the Russian economy.
Short of that, with the apparent abdication of the U.S. President,
Vice President, and Secretary of State, Ukraine has everything to lose
and Russia everything to gain. Who would want that outcome? What kind
of mindset would want that?
The White House isn't leading a legitimate peace process. It is
enabling the globally aggressive reach of the most lethal dictatorship
in Europe. The free world must not allow this. Putin will take
everything he wants and more unless he is stopped.
America must not appease dictators. We should support our fierce
allies to fight dictatorship with every fiber in our being. Ukraine
needs ammunition and arms. We must send them. They are not asking us to
fight, but they are asking us to help arm them along with our European
allies.
Defending freedom's alliance is our highest calling here--to protect
and defend the American people and our Constitution against all
enemies, foreign and domestic.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Quigley) and
from the great city of Chicago, our capable co-chair of the
Congressional Ukrainian Caucus.
Mr. QUIGLEY. Mr. Speaker, we want peace. Ukraine desperately wants
peace but not as a result of what would be in effect a Putin-Russia
victory.
We want peace and not appeasement that would reward a brutal Russian
invasion with land gains that officially recognize Crimea as Russia,
with land gains that give de facto recognition to four other large
areas. In time, then Putin would recognize his ability to come back and
finish the job. We want peace but not without security assurances from
the U.S. and its allies. We want peace but not without accountability.
I stood on the grounds of Bucha and the mass grave. I have seen the
flattened maternity hospital. I have learned of the tens of thousands
of kids kidnapped by the Russians. These Ukrainian children were taken
into Russia, never to see their families again.
{time} 2045
We want peace but not with what would, in effect, be a message to
autocrats and tyrants across the world that they have a green light to
take lands
[[Page H1679]]
not their own. Recognizing that Putin's ambitions go well beyond
Ukraine to Moldova, Georgia, the Baltics, and Poland, coupled with this
administration's proclamation that, in effect, NATO is on its own.
I paraphrase the concerns raised by Secretary Austin and General
Milley that if we don't stop Putin's aggression now, then we will pay
later with more blood and dollars.
We must recognize at the same time that we simply can't trust Putin
to keep a deal, which is why the security guarantees are so important.
Indeed, our leadership here is a strategic and moral imperative, but
this administration has never said who it wants to win this war. It has
blamed Ukraine for starting the war. It has put absolutely no pressure
on Putin to negotiate in good faith while it paused aid to Ukraine.
The President has finally recognized what is obvious to the rest of
the world: Putin is in no hurry to be engaged in peace talks.
He knows he has a 4- or a 6-1 manpower advantage, and he treats his
troops as cannon fodder. He knows that this administration will not
provide another aid package.
So, we have to ask ourselves: Why does this matter at this point?
It is for the same reasons we fought the Second World War, to prevent
a sovereign democratic nation from being wiped off the face of the
Earth, for the same reason we formed NATO, and for the same reasons we
formed the United Nations.
It is effective and important now to remember the Presidents who have
echoed these warnings and these concerns. In FDR's last inaugural, he
said that we have learned that to have a friend, we need to be a friend
and that our welfare is dependent upon the welfare of nations far away.
In John F. Kennedy's inaugural address, he talked of opposing any foe
and supporting any friend to aid the causes of liberty. Finally,
ironically, is the Reagan doctrine, which we have supported ever since,
that we will support our allies against Soviet aggression at any cost.
Unfortunately, the Reagan doctrine seems to be lost upon what was once
the party of Reagan.
It is for those reasons that we must continue this and do what we can
to support our allies and our friends because it is in our interests,
too.
Mr. Speaker, I will finish with Slava Ukraini.
Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, I thank Congressman Quigley for his strong
and constant support of Ukraine. I thank the gentleman so much for
representing the State of Illinois and the thousands and tens of
thousands of citizens there who so deeply care about victory for
Ukraine.
Let me now move to a highly capable Member from the eastern part of
the great State of Pennsylvania, Congresswoman Madeleine Dean.
Ms. DEAN of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I thank Representative Marcy
Kaptur and Representative Mike Quigley for so ably, faithfully, and
loyally co-chairing the Congressional Ukraine Caucus for us and for
bringing us here to the floor tonight to remember how urgent it is that
we support Ukraine and how urgent it is that we support the peace
process that results in the protection of the sovereignty of Ukraine
and its democracy.
We have reached a Chamberlain or Churchill moment. As cease-fire
negotiations start and stop between Ukraine and Russia, the United
States must stand firm in our support of Ukraine's young democracy.
History makes clear that appeasing a bloodthirsty dictator in Europe
simply does not work. It only encourages him to continue his
aggression, press for more territory, and shed more innocent blood.
Just last week, Russia launched a barbaric missile strike on Kyiv
that killed and injured more than 100 Ukrainians.
Since Russia began this unprovoked war more than 3 years ago, tens of
thousands of Ukrainians have paid with their lives, and we must never
forget the more than 20,000 children from Ukraine who have been
forcibly deported by Russia and remain missing.
I remind our President and our Vice President that it was Putin who
started this ruthless and illegal war more than 3 years ago and, we
must not forget, 11 years ago in Crimea.
To endorse a so-called peace deal that fulfills Russia's every wish
and forces our Ukrainian allies to bend to Putin's will by ceding their
sovereign territory is beyond disgraceful. It is disgusting, and it is
un-American.
This weekend, I was struck by the images of President Trump's private
meeting with President Zelenskyy at the Vatican, which took place as
the world mourned the passing of Pope Francis. Pope Francis was a
global leader of humility, of empathy, and of service. He was a
faithful man who advocated for peace, not appeasement. That must be our
goal.
Last week, I joined a bipartisan group of lawmakers on a trip to the
United Kingdom, Israel, Jordan, and Denmark to meet with our allies
abroad. I met with European leaders, and over and over, I heard the
same refrain that they want to work with us. They want us to stay with
them. They are increasing their military support for defense as is
their obligation, and they want to do whatever we can to ensure
Ukraine's protection and sovereignty because what happens to Ukraine
and its young democracy happens to theirs and happens to ours.
The conversations were filled with such emotion and a clear desire to
do the right thing. As cease-fire talks continue, may we strive for an
end to this devastating war, to its suffering for all of Europe,
frankly, but obviously so much so for the people of Ukraine, and we
must do it through strength.
I will end with this: With the passing of the Holy Father and holding
on to a promise of my faith, he reminded us over and over again of the
Gospel of Matthew: Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be
called the children of God.
I plead for this administration to help bring us peace, no
appeasement, peace through the sovereignty of the democracy that is
Ukraine, our friend and our ally.
Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, I thank Congresswoman Dean so very much for
joining us and for her firm, firm support of Ukraine and all she has
done to give light to the children of Ukraine and thousands upon
thousands, over 20,000 minimum, stolen by Russia and taken back to
Russia from the arms of their parents in Ukraine as Russia tries to
reprogram their brain to become Russian.
I think that the leadership of the gentlewoman has been very
important during this entire period of the war and for all the people
who have died needlessly, as Ukraine is the scrimmage line for liberty
on the European Continent. As the map behind the gentlewoman so well
illustrates, any American or reasonable person looking at that would
say: Why is Russia picking on such a small country?
The fierce fighting that the Ukrainians have exhibited through
bravery against that is profound.
I am just so honored, and I know the gentlewoman feels the same way,
to have met President Zelenskyy and so many of his advisers,
individuals in the military, and wounded soldiers. Russia has lost over
100,000 soldiers. We are not sure how many. It is a lot. Those soldiers
didn't have to die. They could be doing things in Russia to help
Russia.
I have traveled there. I have seen the level at which people live.
The Russian people deserve better.
Why is Putin wasting all this money on arms? He needs to be investing
in housing. I have gone up eight-story skyscrapers where--I won't even
talk about the sanitary conditions, but they are not good. I have been
into wards with people who are mentally ill, and I have seen the sad
situation in which they live. I couldn't even imagine someone from my
family having to exist in those conditions.
I have walked across the country in different places and met Russians
who are trying to make a go of it by growing food and getting it into
the bigger cities.
I have tried to visit religious institutions in Russia and learned
how the government there suppresses free religious expression. They
force any church there, if they even allow it in, to speak in Russian,
not the native language, let's say, of where the people might come who
would want to have that ceremony in multilingual or even translated and
be able to listen to that. Russia doesn't do that. She is very inward.
The birthrate is going down in Russia. I have been in birth wards in
Russia. I wouldn't recommend that to any
[[Page H1680]]
woman, if you could see how poorly they are accoutred and how poorly
they are provided for.
There is a major alcoholism and drug problem in Russia, as well.
I think Vladimir Putin ought to take care of his own people and not
have dibs on Ukraine just because he is one of the largest militaries
in the world.
I think the Ukrainian valor has been astounding.
Ms. DEAN of Pennsylvania. I do. They are noble in what they have
done.
Ms. KAPTUR. They need everything. They need tourniquets. I mentioned
arms. They need to be remembered.
The Government of the United States is only about one-quarter of our
economy, but 75 percent of our economy is private. People can send
boxes. They can remember them. They can send money through Western
Union to the people of Ukraine and to help those who are living in
Poland in order to help them meet the costs of having the refugees who
come from Ukraine into Poland. There is so much Americans can do.
People in my district raised money to send a shower, for them to buy
a shower so they could put it in the local school so people could
actually clean themselves where the lights keep going off and Russia
makes it hard for people.
You can send seed, Mr. Speaker, so that it is easier for people to be
able to plant in their gardens. They are very thrifty and practical
people. They are educated. Many of the Ukrainians I meet speak several
languages. They want to meet the world. They don't want to be put
inside a cage again. That is really what they face.
I wanted to say a few things about my family if the gentlewoman
wanted to add anything now. I wanted to mention a few of the people I
have met who fought during World War II and allowed for some of Europe
to be free.
Ms. DEAN of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, maybe I will end by just
thanking Representative Kaptur again for the lead she has taken on
this. It means a lot to my district.
As my friend knows, I have a very large Ukrainian-American
population, cultural center, churches, and just extraordinary
constituents. I learned so much from them.
As Ms. Kaptur says, they have prepared--whether they are Ukrainian-
American or not, the folks in my district care desperately about this.
I have one woman who has been physically a part of delivering
ambulances to Ukraine and so many other materials.
We ought to look at the folks, the people of Ukraine, led by
President Zelenskyy, with such admiration. We ought to say that we
should do everything we possibly can to support them, everything they
need to win. We have to finish that sentence: Everything they need to
win.
The win must not be through some sort of appeasement. It will not
help. It will not work. Putin will go on to seek other territory and
other land. He is very hungry for that. We must learn the lessons of
Neville Chamberlain in 1938 and 1939, where he thought he was going
somewhere toward peace and, of course, 1 year later, Hitler walked into
Poland.
With that, Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend very much for yielding.
Slava Ukraini.
Ms. KAPTUR. Slava Ukraini. I know that the people who are listening
tonight and will hear our words will say: What can we do, Marcy? What
can we do to really help them?
I said that children in classrooms can write little notes and send
them. If they use the internet and if they have internet capability,
then send them a note. Teachers all over our country: Don't expect just
the Government of the United States to do this. The American people are
powerful in their own right.
If you do shoe drives where you have a school or a company and you
see that everybody has some pairs of shoes that don't fit them that
still have a lot of good wear, then put them in a box and send them
off.
The same thing is true with aspirin and creams for people's hands.
They work with their hands. They need gloves to work with the soil.
They raise their own food. They live at a simple level.
Sweaters and boots for the men as they go through the forests, and
bicycles--there are so many things that are needed there that we just
throw away. We just throw away material and plastics so that they can
keep the wind out of their very humble homes in the wintertime.
I think there are so many things that people just take for granted
that are here but that are, especially during a time of war, so
expensive for them. Their salaries have been cut, and I think Americans
can do a lot. Be creative. Do for them what you would do for your own
family, Mr. Speaker.
{time} 2100
I want to mention, as I think about and reflect when I was first
elected to Congress, there was a Congressman from California named Tom
Lantos. He was a Holocaust survivor. He was from Hungary, and he was
imprisoned by Hitler. He used to come to the floor, and he fought so
hard for the fall of the Soviet Union and for liberty across Europe.
I remember him and I want to honor him this evening and say to his
family--I know some live in New Hampshire, and others live in
California. They are scattered in other places, I think. He was such a
great inspiration to us because of what he had suffered. He was driven
to ensure that what happened in his lifetime would never happen again.
That is what is at stake right now: liberty in Europe, our closest
allies. We do not live in this world alone. We have 340 million people.
China has a billion and a half. Russia has about 130 million. Other
countries in Europe have much smaller populations, but when the United
States puts its population and our military strength together with our
NATO allies, with our allies in the Pacific, all of a sudden, you can
see liberty's umbrella, and it is armed to protect our people. To date,
we have been able to do that.
I give credit to Members like Tom Lantos.
Also when I arrived, we had a Congressman named Jack Brooks of Texas,
who had been a pilot decorated during World War II. He never talked
about it, didn't talk about his honors.
I can remember when John Kennedy was killed, Jack Brooks was on that
airplane that came back to Washington with the body of John Kennedy,
who fought during World War II, a young President that we lost because
of an assassination here but who had fought for our liberty.
We paid honor today to John LaFalce. As a younger Member of Congress,
I remember going with Congressman LaFalce on a delegation over to
Europe during the 1980s, when I was first elected, the first decade of
my service. I pay tribute to him and to what he taught us, what we saw.
I pay tribute to my own family, to Uncle Stanley Rogowski, who was D-
day 4 on Normandy's beaches, wounded in action, came home, lived a full
life, helped educate me about what liberty really is: freedom from
oppression. Freedom is the condition of being free. Liberty is being
freed from tyranny. He was a part of that.
I honor Alexander Drabik, from my own district. He was a great
soldier who was in the Army and was the first man to cross the Remagen
Bridge in Germany, which was the turning point of the war.
Finally, I honor Roger Durbin, a veteran of our Army who gave me the
idea to create the World War II Memorial here where now over 100
million people have visited to honor our heroes and our heroines.
Slava Ukraini.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
____________________