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Ukraine
Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, last Thursday, I decided to join with Senator Shaheen and set up a meeting with about 13 European Ambassadors to the United States. It was for the Democratic Senators. Afterward, we thought this should have been bipartisan, and the next one will be.
But the Ambassadors' meeting was nothing short of historic because these 14 Ambassadors, representing the obvious leaders in Europe, all spoke to the issue of Ukraine and what it has meant to them and what it has done to their nations.
Some of their statements were profound. The Ambassador from Germany talked about how her country had, in a matter of 2 weeks, dramatically changed its position on many issues: On the future of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, they have come to realize that dependence on Russia is risky business in the 21st century; whether or not Germany will step up and support the Ukrainian people. They decided they would, and they also decided that they would make a substantial investment in military spending as part of NATO.
Some of those things seem like very common decisions to Americans, but for them, it was many times a reversal of a party position. They have come to realize, as we have around the world, that the Ukrainian situation calls for emergency measures.
I first want to commend President Joe Biden. Though I may not agree with all his policies and approaches, I have to say that at the moment in history we find ourselves, thank goodness Joe Biden is our President. I cannot imagine his predecessor in a similar circumstance.
Joe Biden set out to first unify NATO. It sounds like an easy task. It is an alliance which we inspired back in the 1940s, after World War II, and have been an active leader in for decades. But our relationship with the nations of NATO and Europe and our relationship to the world as a NATO alliance had suffered greatly in the last few years. Joe Biden set out to change that, and he is the man to do it.
Throughout his career in the Senate and as Vice President to President Obama, he played a major role in foreign policy. He was no stranger to many of the people he sat down with in the NATO alliance. He brought them together and impressed upon them that, if Putin should decide to invade Ukraine, the NATO alliance had to be stronger than ever. He convinced them, and we should recognize that. Both parties should recognize that. His leadership brought NATO into the 21st century and brought it to the stage where it can confront this Putin threat in a responsible manner.
This is being felt across the world, but it is being felt particularly in the nations that are on the border of Ukraine or Belarus.
At this meeting of the Ambassadors, I called on the Ambassador from Poland. I will have to admit and concede that I have a bias there because I represent the second largest Polish city in the world, Chicago, IL, second only to Warsaw. There are many fine Polish people there, and there have been for many generations, who are following this closely, realizing that they are right on the edge, right next to Ukraine.
The Ambassador made some comments that I thought were worth repeating on the floor. At that time, about 1\1/2\ million refugees--1\1/2\ million refugees--had flown or come across the border into Poland, and they were being absorbed and accepted in that country--1\1/2\ million. He said something that was noteworthy.
He said: If you watch the TV of the people coming to the train stations and across the border, did you notice there are no refugee camps in Poland for the Ukrainians? Those people who come across the border are being brought into the homes of Polish families. They are taking the spare bedroom or finding a way to get by in homes of people who care for them--1\1/2\ million. Now, some go on to other countries, but many are staying in Poland.
Then he said something which has historic significance. He said: We are taking care of these people because in 1939, no one would take care of us.
He is, of course, referring to the invasion of Poland by the Nazis and the subjugation of the Polish population after a valiant effort to stop the Nazi advance and then the hardship and suffering of the Polish people under Nazi rule. They remember that. Few were personally alive to remember, but families have repeated the stories over and over again.
My hat is off to the Polish people for their kindness and caring and their leadership when it comes to accepting refugees. But what a lesson for us and for the rest of the world. Countries around Europe are each accepting responsibility.
This was a big weekend in Chicago. It is St. Patrick's Day weekend. We dyed the river green--lots of parties, lots of fun, events at churches like Old St. Patrick's and others. It is a tradition which I am really fond to be part of each year.
I noticed when I spoke to the Irish American Partnership on Friday morning how many people were asking me about Ukraine. At a time when we usually just have a lot of fun and remember good times involving Irish parties and Irish families, there was a real concern about Ukraine--and not just in Chicago among the Irish but equally important in Ireland among the Irish, because several things have happened in the last few days in Ireland.
They have been gathering thousands of pounds of medical supplies and humanitarian aid and shipping them over to Ukraine through Poland and other countries. They really care. Then they made a commitment. Ireland--a nation of 5 million people--made a commitment to take 100,000 Ukrainian refugees.
I said to the group that I met with on Friday morning: A lesson for us all. This isn't the first time we have seen refugees in the world; it is the current refugee crisis, and it is ongoing in many other parts of the world. And what a lesson for us all--regardless of our religious affiliation, that if we do care for our fellow man, we should care for these refugees. They are the strangers, as often referred to in Christian teaching, whom we are asked to accept.
So I want to commend the Polish people, the Hungarians, the Romanians, the Moldovans for accepting refugees as they have from Ukraine. It is a tragedy that it is necessary, but thank goodness there are caring people in those countries who do open their homes and their lives to the refugees.
There was a conversation as well from other Ambassadors that day, but the message that came through dramatically was that we are now unified. The NATO alliance and other countries in Europe, like Sweden and Finland and Switzerland, although they are not part of the NATO alliance, really care and want to be part of the response to it. That is the strength of the force against Vladimir Putin. But the real strength is in Ukraine itself.
How can you watch the television and see the devastation that is taking place and not feel for the people who are still remaining there, the millions who each day wake up and wonder if that is the last day of their life because of a Russian missile or a Russian bomb or because Vladimir Putin has decided to engage in a scorched-earth policy?
When they bombed maternity hospitals, I thought they had reached the lowest possible point, but over the weekend, Vladimir Putin intensified his illegal, unprovoked war on Ukraine--shelling apartment buildings, hospitals, schools, creating an obscene body of evidence that Vladimir Putin should be charged and convicted of the worst possible war crimes.
That is why I had to hesitate for a moment and say, when I hear apologists for Putin in America, I wonder who they are and what they are made of. Tucker Carlson is one who even the Russians are recommending that their friends in the media listen to, making excuses on FOX for Vladimir Putin. There are no excuses--none acceptable--on the subject. Mr. Carlson should be ashamed of himself.
It is impossible to know how many innocent civilians have already died in Ukraine. Estimates run from hundreds to thousands. An estimated 2.8 million Ukrainians--almost all of them women, children, and the elderly--have fled in the bitter cold to other nations, carrying one or two suitcases and a backpack and a baby on their side. Millions more Ukrainian citizens are displaced inside Ukraine--we can't even count that number--and multitudes are trapped in places like Mariupol and other cities under siege by Russia. Many of them are without food and water and medicine and electricity.
These families are coming to shelters and saying: We have no food to give our children. That is how desperate the circumstances are because of Mr. Putin's invasion. His unprovoked war is a war of atrocities.
Yesterday, I attended a rally at the Ukrainian Center in Chicago. It had been chilly the day before, but it warmed up into the 50s--which is good news in Chicago in March--and we were outside. Quite a crowd showed up. There were more blue and gold Ukrainian flags than I had seen in any one place in America, but there were many other flags too. There were Polish flags; and I am proud to say there were Lithuanian flags--my mother's homeland--Estonian, Latvian, American flags, all gathered to show unity with the Ukrainian people.
Since this war started, they have been working to provide aid shipments and to reach family members in Ukraine. You can tell that it is taking its toll on them as they talk about members of their families that are still in Ukraine today.
But people came with a loud round of applause when I announced that we had, on the floor of the Senate last week on Thursday, passed a bill to provide $13.6 billion to Ukraine--humanitarian aid, military aid. And President Biden, over the weekend, talked about another $200 million worth of direct military aid. That makes it over $1 billion that America has sent, and there is more to follow.
We talked about the sanctions against Russia, sanctions which will be felt by the common people of Russia. Unfortunately, some of them are innocent victims in this as well, but it will put pressure on Putin to finally stop this deadly invasion.
They said--and I believe--that this is not simply a war on Ukraine; it is a war on democracy. It is a war on civilization.
On Wednesday, we are going to have a historic moment here in the Capitol. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the President of Ukraine, will address a joint session of Congress using the remote technology. We are all in awe of his courage and leadership, and we are anxious to hear his message, to think of what that man has achieved by staying on the scene, regularly broadcasting videos to show that he was still there. He inspires his people to get up and fight for Ukraine.
Our message to him on that day is ``Slava Ukraini!''--that is,
``Glory to Ukraine.'' And it is a phrase that was actually banished during Soviet times because it was so nationalistic that the Soviets didn't want the people of that country using it. They use it proudly today because they are an independent, free, and democratic nation.
America stands with Ukraine in its fight for democracy and civilization. I just hope that we will learn many lessons from this. Don't many of the things which we were arguing about in America seem so trivial in comparison to what we are talking about in Ukraine: truckers coming to protest social distancing and masks and vaccine mandates? I am sure those are important issues, but they pale in comparison to the life-and-death struggle which is going on in Ukraine.
These people understand that they must be ready to stand and die for their freedom. How many of us could rise to that level if challenged? It is something I think about a lot.
SOURCE: Congressional Record Vol. 168, No. 45
The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
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