WASHINGTON – Sens. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) on February 3 urged President Barack Obama and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to rapidly increase military assistance to Ukraine to defend its sovereign borders against escalating Russian aggression.
Sens. Portman and Durbin were joined by Sens. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), John McCain (R-Ariz.), Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), Mark Kirk (R-Ill.), Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Joe Donnelly (D-Ind.) and Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.).
Similarly, Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, on January 29 wrote a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry advocating the full implementation of the Ukraine Freedom Support Act of 2014 and strongly urging the Obama administration “to provide Ukraine with the weapons it needs to defend itself.”
In their joint letter, the 15 senators – nine Democrats and six Republicans – wrote: “Russia’s affront to established international norms is a direct threat to decades of established European security architecture and the democratic aspirations of the Ukrainian people. It must not be allowed to succeed. We believe it is time to increase military assistance to Ukraine and urge the U.S. and NATO to move quickly. Despite the welcome imposition of U.S. and EU sanctions and mounting international isolation, Russian President [Vladimir] Putin appears willing to gamble his country’s economy and world standing to further his blatant military invasion of another nation. That he is willing to undertake such a selfish pursuit at the cost of the Russian people’s freedoms, aspirations and talents is only the more tragic. Such a dangerous international bully will only stand down when faced with credible resistance.”
The senators also noted: “As Ukrainian Finance Minister Natalie Jaresko recently said, ‘Putin fears a Ukraine that demands to live and wants to live and insists on living on European values – with a robust civil society and freedom of speech and relation [and] with a system of values the Ukrainian people have chosen and laid down their lives for.’ We must help her and her fellow Ukrainians succeed. The bipartisan Ukraine Freedom Support Act, which passed the Congress in December, authorized tighter sanctions and such military equipment. We urge you to take such steps without delay.”
In his letter to Secretary Kerry, Sen. Menendez referred to the deadliest period of conflict in Ukraine since the ceasefire agreement was signed on September 5, 2014, and stated: “The international community has an obligation to respond to these attacks and to Putin, who has willfully ignored commitments made under the Minsk Agreement and clearly signaled his intentions to escalate tensions in Ukraine and across the region. While we should continue to pursue a diplomatic track, a more assertive international response, led by the United States, is required.”
Pointing to the “build-up of Russian military presence” and “an alarming spike in violence by Russian-backed separatists on both military and civilian populations,” Sen. Menendez noted: “The January 24 attack on the portside town of Mariupol, which is located 25 kilometers outside of the Minsk ceasefire line, killed at least 27 innocent civilians, some of them women and children, and injured more than 100 others. This follows two weeks of intense violence in which attacks on civilian buses claimed more than 20 innocent lives.”
“Using the Ukraine Freedom Support Act as a framework for action, the U.S. should increase its pressure by imposing additional sanctions on Russia, and provide strong support for the Ukrainian people through the provision of defensive military assistance, as well as financial backing and humanitarian aid,” the New Jersey senator wrote.
Sen. Menendez noted that the administration is required by the Ukraine Freedom Support Act to report by February 15 on its plan for increasing military assistance to the government of Ukraine. “The law authorized the provision of defense articles including anti-tank and anti-armor weapons, crew weapons and ammunition, radar and communications equipment for the Ukrainian military. Such assistance is urgently required to repel the Russian-backed forces as they continue to step up their heavily armed attacks,” he underscored.