Mr. President, I rise today to draw the attention of the Senate and the American people to a dark anniversary on the near horizon. On July 24, the world will have seen 5 full months of the brutal,…
Mr. President, I rise today to draw the attention of the Senate and the American people to a dark anniversary on the near horizon.
On July 24, the world will have seen 5 full months of the brutal, unjustified, and utterly senseless war Russia's dictator Vladimir Putin has unleashed on Ukraine, a peace-loving democracy that has never threatened Russia or any of its other neighbors.
It will be 150 days of Mr. Putin and his army's killing and raping Ukrainian women and children; destroying homes, hospitals, museums, schools, and churches; displacing almost 13 million people; and unleashing chaos and havoc on the world. The blockage of the southern ports of Ukraine has interrupted the vital supply of Ukrainian food supplies to a hungry world, wreaking pain and havoc on societies across the Middle East, Africa, and South Asia. An existing global food security crisis has now been severely worsened by Russia's violent assault, as the Senate Foreign Relations Committee examined earlier today in a hearing where USAID Administrator Samantha Power and our permanent representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, testified. They spoke about the U.S. role in trying to avert this additional global tragedy resulting from Russia's aggression and the immensity of the task ahead.
Who could forget the horrors of Bucha and Irpin, the shell-shocked look in the eyes of Ukrainian children who will forever carry the burdens of unimaginable trauma or the Ukrainian women who had to be carried from a maternity ward after the Russians struck their hospital with a cruise missile.
This is an everyday reality now for Ukrainians--unspeakable, cruel military assaults. Yet they demonstrate the indomitable will to fight for their land and freedom; they do not give up; and they are truly an inspiration for the rest of the world.
When Mr. Putin started this attack, he assumed Russia would conquer Ukraine and seize its capital in 3 days. Yet it is now day almost 150, and Russia has suffered heavy losses and retreated from Kyiv. While several towns in the south of the country have been flattened and then occupied, in most of the country, the Russian invaders have barely advanced from their initial positions.
In the towns and cities the Russians occupy, they have met heavy resistance from Ukrainian guerillas and regular citizens who do not want to be part of Putin's evil empire. Despite efforts to indoctrinate Ukrainian children in occupied areas with a counterfactual narrative of the contemporary history, Russian speakers are learning Ukrainian, and what have been generally positive relations with the people of Ukraine and Russia before this invasion have now been completely destroyed.
Independent analysts have described the ongoing violence as a genocide in
Ukraine, and there is a growing body of evidence that it is, sadly, true. A May of 2022 study conducted by the New Lines Institute and the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights concluded that ``Russia bears State responsibility for breaches of Article II and Article III of the Genocide Convention.''
The report pointed to a pattern of Russian forces targeting the Ukrainian civilians, with evidence of mass executions and torture of civilians in Russian-occupied regions. The report included evidence of deliberate attacks on shelters, evacuation routes, and humanitarian corridors, as well as reports of sexual violence and forcible deportation of Ukrainians to Russia.
On July 14, the United States and 44 other nations signed an International Criminal Court declaration to investigate over 20,000 reports--20,000 reports--of war crimes committed by Russia in Ukraine since the beginning of the war.
Make no mistake about it, Vladimir Putin has caused the suffering and pain in pursuit of his ambition to rebuild the Russian Empire. He has said it to himself on multiple occasions. He is hell-bent on destroying the post-World War II world order that has brought prosperity and peace to our allies in Europe--and to Russia to this point, too.
Therefore, it is not an exaggeration to say that the Ukrainians are fighting not just for their land and freedom, which, as Americans, we should cherish and appreciate, but also for the very core of the global order that, if destroyed, will marginalize our allies and threaten the United States.
With this in mind, we must remember that supporting Ukraine is not charity. It is in our core national security interest to provide the Ukrainians with the arms, financing, and moral support to defeat the tyrant of Russia. If Ukraine falls, it will lead to the subjugation of Ukrainian people, destruction of its culture and language, and bring a hostile and expansionistic Russian Empire right to the borders of our NATO allies that we are committed to protect with our troops and weapons. Ukraine is the firewall that the world cannot afford to see breached.
So, yes, it is a moral imperative for us to support Ukrainians in this just war, but it is also a core national security necessity for us to do this. Ukraine is fighting this war on multiple fronts: on land and at sea and in the air. The security of the Black Sea region is a critical aspect of this war that has not received enough attention. As recent reporting suggests, the ability of the Ukrainians' vessels to navigate the Black Sea is important for the country but also for regional stability and global food security. That is where Ukraine exports most of its agricultural products. Ukraine is a major grain exporter, and the Russians have been blocking these vessels from departing Ukrainian ports. This exposes some of the world's most vulnerable people to food scarcity, malnutrition, and worsening poverty--and in some cases leading to unnecessary and preventable deaths. Truly, the ugliness and depravation of the Putin regime has no limit.
It is in this context the U.S. Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe that I chair conducted a field hearing on Black Sea security in Constanta, Romania, on July 1. I want to thank my friend Senator Wicker for chairing that hearing. The Commission brought together key decisionmakers from the Black Sea states to discuss how best to address Russia's illegal naval blockade of Ukrainian ports.
Subsequently, Senator Wicker and I joined Senators Shaheen and Romney in introducing the Black Sea Security Act, S. 4509. This bill would declare that it is the policy of the United States ``to actively deter the threat of further Russian escalation in the Black Sea region and defend freedom of navigation in the Black Sea to prevent the spread of further armed conflict in Europe.''
The bill further requires that the National Security Council shall deliver to Congress an interagency report that outlines current policy options toward Black Sea countries and the border region. The report would include a breakdown of funding to support these efforts, including military assistance; economic assistance, including support for food security; countering Russia's disinformation and propaganda; energy diversification; increasing access to global capital markets; a plan for helping U.S. allies in the region to accelerate their transitions from legacy Russian military equipment and promote NATO interoperability; and strengthening the rule of law and anticorruption efforts.
I call on my colleagues to support this important piece of legislation.
Tragically, this war is turning into a marathon, and it is incumbent upon us not to lose our focus and determination in supporting our Ukrainian partners. I want to urge my colleagues in this Chamber and all my fellow Americans to stay the course and continue to support Ukraine for as long as it takes.
My final point today is that we should say the name of what Russia is doing, the atrocities they are committing. Russia is committing genocide in Ukraine. Russia is trying to eviscerate not just the people and the buildings of Ukraine; they are trying to eliminate the Ukrainian language, Ukrainian history, and Ukrainian culture. That is genocide.
That is why I am joining Senator Risch, along with Senators Graham, Blumenthal, Shaheen, and Portman in introducing a resolution that would condemn the Russian Federation for committing acts of genocide against the Ukrainian people; call on the United States, in cooperation with allies in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the European Union, to undertake measures to support the Government of Ukraine to prevent further acts of Russian genocide against the Ukrainian people; and support tribunals and international criminal investigations to hold Russian political leaders and military personnel to account for a war of aggression, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide.
We must stand shoulder to shoulder with the Ukrainians to lighten their load and hasten their victory. We must be prepared for the reconstruction of Ukraine that will follow the conclusion of this war. And, yes, we must pursue accountability for those responsible for the genocide underway in Ukraine by the Russian Federation.
