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UKRAINE
Mr. PORTMAN. Mr. President, I come to the floor again today to stand with the people of Ukraine.
What Russia is doing to Ukraine and its citizens is an atrocity. Ukraine is an American ally and an independent and democratic country of 41 million people who simply want to live in peace.
The Russian invasion is an illegal, unprovoked, and brutal assault that, over the past 19 days since the full-scale invasion began, has targeted and killed thousands of civilians. Americans have seen this atrocity in realtime with horrific videos online or on our television screens.
The videos and photos have sometimes been shocking. Remember the one of the woman who was on a stretcher, pregnant, leaving the maternity hospital that had been bombed by the Russians. We now learned that that woman and her baby have died. Today we learned that more journalists have been killed, including an American journalist, a FOX News cameraperson.
I just returned last night from a bipartisan congressional delegation trip to Poland, neighboring Ukraine. I was joined on that trip by Senator Klobuchar, Senator Wicker, and Senator Blumenthal. I see Senator Wicker is here on the floor. Senator Blumenthal is also here. Senator Klobuchar has a conflict. She wanted to be here, but she is going to be submitting her statement for the record to join us tonight.
We had a very emotional trip because we talked to a lot of the refugees coming out of Ukraine, talked about the incredible trauma they are going through. We also got some very sobering briefings when we were over there from our own team but also from the Polish Government, from people who were helping the refugees.
It is a very difficult situation. Poland is doing what they can to help their neighbor. They have a special bond with Ukraine, and they are doing a lot. In fact, most of the nearly 2 million refugees who have fled Ukraine because of this invasion and the brutal attacks have come to Poland, where they have been met with open hearts and open homes. Literally, people in Poland are opening up their homes to these refugees. We were at the border, where some of these Polish families have come to welcome Ukrainians into their apartments, into their homes.
In addition to briefings from our U.S. Embassy team in Poland; the U.S. Embassy team from Ukraine, who is now in Poland; the U.S. military in Poland; and the Polish Government, we did go down to the border between Ukraine and Poland to meet with the border officials from Poland, U.S. and Polish international relief organizations, and, of course, with the refugees themselves who were streaming across the border.
Roughly, 100 refugees every minute are leaving Ukraine. It was heartbreaking to hear their stories. You can imagine. We spoke to them at the border crossing but also a couple miles away at what is called the reception center, a convention center that has been converted into a place where thousands of refugees can come, get a good night's sleep, maybe stay for a few days or even a few weeks, find food, find healthcare, find mental health treatment.
Most of this, by the way, has been donated. The Polish people have donated bed sheets and blankets and quilts. We worked there as volunteers with what is called the World Central Kitchen, something actually a Washington, DC, chef, Jose Andres, has set up at natural disaster areas to help feed people. He is now doing this on the border with Ukraine and in Ukraine. In fact, he has about 20 different World Central Kitchens set up. This one was at this reception center being used by refugee families who need to find some comfort and food, as they have made a long trek, in many cases, across Ukraine to get there.
There are also lots of displaced people in Ukraine itself, and those people are being helped by the same group, this World Central Kitchen. I thank them. I thank all the volunteers who give them support and help so that they can lend a hand at these reception centers and help these refugees along their way.
I also thank so many other volunteers we saw there from every organization: Catholic relief organizations, other faith-based organizations, the World Health Organization, and others.
We were at the border only about 6 hours after the Russian missiles had attacked and killed at least 35 and wounded more than 130 at a Ukrainian training center just 15 miles away. The border guards said they had felt the Earth tremble when the bombing attack occurred, again, just several hours before we got there.
This was the first Russian attack so close to the western border with Europe and so close to a NATO ally, a potentially dangerous new phase of the Russian assault.
We met refugees there from all over the country, the vast majority of whom were mothers with their children, sometimes grandmothers with their grandchildren. Men between 18 and 60 are required to stay and fight, so we heard some really tough stories about families being split apart and moms and wives and sisters wondering whether their sons and husbands and brothers who were in harm's way were still alive.
Some refugees had traveled by bus, some by foot, some on trains. Some had come over Ukraine for several days. They told of heart-wrenching stories of their homes being destroyed, of friends and family being wounded by the indiscriminate Russian bombing of civilian areas. They had backpacks or small suitcases; that is it. They had to travel and travel quickly and travel light. They left everything else behind, including, again, in some cases, family members.
Some, again, had been traveling for several days. One family we met from the eastern part of Ukraine said it had been over 2 weeks. Some who lived close to the border had only made the difficult decision to leave their homes that very morning after the bombing of the training center 15 miles away. Refugees spoke with tears in their eyes about the pain of leaving their homeland, and all the families I spoke with said they want to go back when it is safe.
Many said they appreciated what America had done, but just about every single refugee we talked to asked that the United States of America and other countries around the world do more particularly to stop the deadly bombing of civilian targets and the senseless destructions of their towns and cities.
In particular, they begged us to close the skies, as they said: Keep us from getting bombarded. Stop the carnage. They were very proud of the courage of the Ukrainian soldiers--they are patriots--and, of course, of the citizen soldiers, sometimes including their own family who have stepped forward. They were proud of the bravery and leadership of President Zelenskyy.
But consistent with what we have heard from the military experts on the trip and what many of us have heard directly from President Zelenskyy, these families, these refugees--the grandmothers, the mothers--said the ability to provide better air cover with more and better ways to protect them is what they really want.
What President Zelenskyy and others have said is better anti-air systems, better ways to protect against missile attacks, anti-missile systems, drones, airplanes--that that is the single most important thing we can do to save lives and give Ukrainian military fighters, the civilian soldiers we talked about--professional soldiers--give them a chance, give them a fighting chance.
Other countries on the frontlines also need to know we are with them, especially our NATO allies, because they are nervous, as you can imagine. While in Poland, we met with hundreds of 82nd Airborne troops who have come to Poland in the past couple of weeks, along with some troops from other NATO countries. We have gone from about 5,000 U.S. troops in Poland to about 10,000 troops over the past couple weeks, and the Polish Government and the Polish people are deeply appreciative. They believe that this it is a deterrent to Russia making an even bigger mistake and coming into their country.
We received extensive briefings from the Polish Government but also from the 82nd Airborne, and we were able to join troops for dinner to hear directly from them. I was fortunate there were a lot of Ohioans there, and hearing from them made me very, very proud that they were willing to step forward and serve their country in this way.
We listened carefully to everybody. We listened to the refugees, listened to the humanitarian aid workers, listened to the U.S. diplomats, to the military experts, as well as the Polish military officials. There were differences of opinion, to be sure, on some of the specifics but actually broad agreement on the ongoing role the United States can play.
Based on what we learned, the following steps should be taken immediately. First, on the military side, we have got to redouble our efforts to provide Ukraine with the equipment and the munitions they need and, where necessary, the immediate training to provide the air defenses they need to give them better capability--defense and offense.
Whether to facilitate providing more MiG-29s from Poland or not has been hotly debated in this past week. In my view, we should have done it when it got that initial green light from part of this Biden administration because the Ukrainians asked for them, and I don't believe they are any more escalatory, certainly, than the escalation the Russians are engaged in virtually every day and what we have done and continue to do on other weapon transfers. So we should have done it immediately and quietly. But the administration seems to have dug in on this for now, and it has become too much of a public debate. I would hope that at least they would facilitate spare parts and other assistance to keep the current Ukrainian planes flying.
Perhaps more promising is to immediately help Ukraine bolster its anti-air systems. The United States can and should facilitate the transfer of Soviet-era anti-aircraft and anti-missile systems so the Ukrainians know how to operate them. And there are a number of regional partners that have this equipment.
Without going into detail, this should also include extra munitions to replenish existing anti-air batteries that the Ukrainians have. In conjunction with transferring anti-air systems and aircraft, we need to continue to provide Stingers and enhancements to them.
All can be useful in shooting down the Russian fighters and the missiles that are raining bombs on innocent Ukraine civilians and causing so much needless death and destruction. We must find ways to quickly provide Ukraine with more armed drones, such as the Turkish TB2, which the Ukrainians know how to use and have been devastatingly effective on the battlefield already.
Especially now that Congress has passed the omnibus spending bill with a bump-up for defense and specific additional security systems for Ukraine and higher drawdown authority for the President, there can be no excuse for a gap in the flow of arms to Ukraine. We want to be sure that this is seamless. As we complete one tranche of help to Ukraine, there cannot be a gap before we do another. We must move more quickly. Ukraine needs this help. It is a matter of hours and days, not a matter of weeks or months.
In addition to the items mentioned above, this also means more anti-
tank Javelin missiles but also small arms, munitions, body armor, communications equipment, anti-tank, mining, anti-ship weapons, and more so the brave Ukrainian soldiers can continue to protect their country and their citizens.
Before I talk about the second part of this, which is the humanitarian side of this effort, I would like to ask my colleagues, whom I see are here on the floor with me, if they have any comments particularly about what Ukraine needs right now in terms of military assistance to be able to be effective or other comments that they might have.
Mr. WICKER. Would the gentleman yield?
Mr. PORTMAN. The gentleman will yield.
Mr. WICKER. And perhaps we can proceed in colloquy form.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Ms. Hassan). Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. WICKER. Madam President, I thank my dear friend from Ohio, and I see that we have been joined by my friend from Connecticut.
We did have a bipartisan American delegation in Poland and on the Ukrainian border this weekend. I don't recommend, for tourism purposes, a weekend trip to Eastern Europe and back. It is pretty hard on the anatomy. But I think we flew the colors for the United States, for the U.S. Senate, and made a bipartisan point.
And my colleagues can speak for themselves about exactly where they come down on these issues, but it was clear from the statements we made that the United States can do more and should be doing more.
And I call on the administration tonight to listen to the learned words of the distinguished Senator from Ohio. Yes, I support the MiGs from Poland and from other Eastern European countries. I think the debate got awfully heightened. I don't know why we needed to have an international discussion among allies about that rather than just do it. And maybe that should be a lesson to us on other decisions, which I hope we are about to make, but there are certainly other weapons that we can facilitate in delivering.
Does it make any sense to say that smaller weapons delivered from the United States are OK to fire against the Russian aggressors in Putin's war, but more effective MiG aircraft from NATO somehow would be escalatory?
Listen, our friends are in a war against the remaining dictator and tyrant on the face of the Earth; and if we are not willing--as we are not--to get involved directly in that war, yes, we ought to give our friends the weapons they need to win.
Let me say this: I hear debate in the newspaper and on the media--
even today--about an off-ramp, what Putin would agree to, to simply quit fighting: If we give him some of the territory that he thinks he has already conquered, Ukraine would get to have part of their country, and everything would be OK. It makes me feel like, somehow, I have been transported to 1938 and 1939, hearing talk about what Adolf Hitler might agree to, to avoid a world war.
Madam President, it is my understanding that the distinguished majority leader has a unanimous consent request, and I am willing to defer our debate at this point to accommodate some administrative matters that need to be taken care of.
Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, I want to thank my friend and colleague from Mississippi, as well as my friend and colleague from Ohio and from Connecticut.
We have one very important unanimous consent request that I will mention now and ask that unanimous consent request and then do the other ones as well. It will take a few minutes, and I appreciate that.
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SOURCE: Congressional Record Vol. 168, No. 46
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