[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 10]
[Senate]
[Page 13929]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                                UKRAINE

  Mr. LEVIN. Madam President, the world was united in horror at the 
downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 over Ukraine. Subsequent events 
have only intensified that horror, as we have learned the airliner and 
its nearly 300 passengers and crew were shot out of the sky by a 
sophisticated missile and radar system, a system operated from 
territory that rebels occupy in eastern Ukraine. We do not know if 
Russia played any direct role in downing the jetliner, but we do know 
that Russia supplied the equipment, and that it fomented the unlawful 
insurrection that led to this horrific event.
  The world has been unified in its condemnation of this atrocity. 
There is strengthened support, both in the United States and among our 
allies, for stronger action to confront Russian aggression, restore 
stability in Ukraine, reassure our friends in the region, and allow the 
Ukrainian people a future they choose, rather than one dictated from 
Moscow. I commend President Obama's action this week to lead a 
coalition that has further strengthened sanctions against Russia and 
those who seek to destabilize Ukraine.
  But we need to do more. We need to do more because so far, every time 
President Putin has had the opportunity to veer off his destructive 
course, he has chosen instead obfuscation, denial and further 
aggression. The United States has already provided some nonlethal 
military support to Ukraine. But I believe it is time for us and our 
allies to intensify that support, and to help Ukraine exercise 
sovereignty and maintain its territorial integrity while dissuading 
Russia from further intervening.
  The Ukrainian military has achieved important successes in recent 
weeks against the rebels who would dismantle Ukraine, significantly 
shrinking rebel-controlled territory. Left on its own, it appears the 
Ukrainian government will be able to reassert control over eastern 
Ukraine. But this job has been more difficult because of the backing of 
Russia for the rebels, including its provision of heavy weapons. It 
will become all but impossible if Russia decided to cross the border 
with its own troops. We should take additional steps to help Ukraine 
reclaim sovereignty in eastern Ukraine and try to deter Russia from 
crossing the border.
  As part of this effort we should provide Ukraine with defensive 
weapons--such as anti-tank weapons--that can help Ukraine reclaim its 
territory and deter Russian aggression, without being needlessly 
provocative to the Russians. These are defensive weapons, not 
provocative weapons.
  There is a clear path out of this violence, violence whose impact we 
now tragically know is not limited to Ukraine's borders. Russia can end 
its backing for rebels whose fighting capabilities are wholly dependent 
on Russian support. Russia can join the world in calling on those 
rebels to participate in the Ukrainian's government's good-faith 
efforts to resolve political disputes by peaceful means. Russia can 
allow Ukraine to exercise sovereignty over territory it lawfully 
controls.
  Russia can choose that path. But we may not know its choice until it 
is too late. We should provide the military assistance that can help 
Ukraine defend itself, reclaim its sovereign territory and hopefully 
deter further Russian intervention.

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