The Ukrainian Congress Committee of America issued the following release on November 18.
Following a historic election, with over 150 million combined votes cast for the first time in U.S. history, the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America (UCCA), the largest grassroots representation of Americans of Ukrainian descent, reached out to President-elect Joe Biden with a letter of congratulations, urging the former vice-president to fortify relations with Ukraine and reinforce internationally recognized principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity.
With the incoming 117th United States Congress, and a new presidential administration, the United States should look to not only live up to its public and binding security guarantees to Ukraine, but should further develop this important bilateral relationship. A retreat from current sanctions against the Russian Federation and its proxies, or from continued military, political and economic support of Ukraine by the United States, would entail terrifying consequences for Ukraine, our European partners and the global geo-political security structure.
In the nearly three decades since Ukraine’s independence, the United States and Ukraine have signed numerous bilateral treaties, leading to the formation of the U.S.-Ukraine Charter on Strategic Partnership.
With overwhelming bipartisan support, the 2014 Ukraine Freedom Support Act further declared as official state policy that the United States will “assist the government of Ukraine in restoring its sovereignty and territorial integrity in order to deter the government of the Russian Federation from further destabilizing and invading Ukraine and other independent countries.”
And in 2018, the United States Department of State formally rejected as a matter of state policy “Russia’s attempted annexation of Crimea,” pledging that the United States intends to maintain this policy of refusal to recognize Russia’s illegal assertions “until Ukraine’s territorial integrity is restored.”
“In 2021, Ukrainians around the world will celebrate 30 years of Ukrainian independence. This historic occasion should motivate policy-makers of both national parties in the United States, and their counterparts in Ukraine, to move toward specific goals in the next decade, based on the shared belief that the security of the United States and Ukraine rests with the expansion of democracy and mutual security guarantees. This should include reciprocal state visits arranged in both Kyiv and Washington, D.C., based on the U.S.-Ukraine Strategic Partnership,” stated UCCA President Andriy Futey.
Ukrainian Americans are united in their support for the independence and territorial integrity of Ukraine. As Americans, we believe that a democratic and independent Ukraine is in the national security interests of the United States. The UCCA remains committed to fostering additional cooperation from elected officials to continue our nation’s proud tradition of bipartisan support for Ukraine.