Putin’s barbaric invasion

Excerpts of remarks by Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ)

during debate on the House Floor on H.Res. 956

Supporting the people of Ukraine—March 2, 2022

Madame Speaker: Over the weekend I met with over one hundred Ukrainian Americans at my district office in Freehold.

They told me how their families and friends in Ukraine are coping with Putin’s barbaric invasion—the loss of life, the wounded and escalating concern as bombs and missiles reign down on civilian targets.

They appealed for help.

The humanitarian crisis is exploding—both inside the country and for those seeking refuge.

As of March 1^st, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)—there are more than 876,000 Ukrainian refugees—with about half finding safety in Poland.

Most are women, children, and the elderly.

Despite facing an existential threat, however, the free world continues to be astonished by the Ukrainian people’s strength, courage, resiliency, and desire to fight.

Interviews coming out of Ukraine—including in bunkers—underscore the Ukrainian people’s resolve.

Under their extraordinarily heroic and tenacious leader—President Volodymyr Zelensky—the people of Ukraine are rallying to defend their beloved homeland.

This is Putin’s war—and he is a war criminal.

Putin’s puppet in Belarus—Alexander Lukashenko—is also a war criminal.

And like Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic and President Charles Taylor of Liberia, they need to be prosecuted and held to account for war crimes.

Now more than ever, the United States and our allies must provide much-needed military equipment and humanitarian aid to the people of Ukraine as they fight to defend their freedom from a brutal dictatorship.

I would remind my colleagues that in a 2014 speech to a joint session of the U.S. Congress, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko asked the Obama Administration for military assistance—which he didn’t get—to defend against Putin’s invasion of Crimea and said ‘One cannot win the war with blankets’.

He got several standing ovations—and more blankets.

Last June, as Russia deployed more combat forces on Ukraine’s border, Politico and others reported that a modest military aid package had been put on hold. “Key items under consideration for the package included short-range air defense systems, small arms and more anti-tank weapons…”

Robust stockpiles of weapons could have bought deterrence—and if necessary, a means for the Ukrainians to defend themselves from Putin’s violence.

At a Foreign Affairs hearing earlier today, I asked Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman what Ukrainian President Zelensky asked for over the past year—including air defense systems—and what he did or didn’t get from the Biden Administration.

Her response may come in a closed door hearing next week.

Comprehensive economic sanctions must degrade Putin’s capacity to wage war.

Some highly efficacious sanctions have not yet been imposed, however.

Russian oil revenues help fuel Putin’s aggression in Ukraine. Not a drop of Russian oil exports should reach our shores.