Executive Session

Floor Speech

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Ms. ERNST. Mr. President, I rise to speak on Russia's ongoing and illegal occupation of Ukraine.

Two weeks ago, I had the opportunity to travel to Ukraine where I saw firsthand the effects of nearly 5 years of Russian occupation, aggression, and hostilities suffered by the Ukrainian people.

Since Russia's illegal seizure of Crimea in March of 2014 and their subsequent invasion of eastern Ukraine's Donbas region the following month, over 10,000--10,000--people have been killed and many more have been wounded or displaced in the fighting. Hiding behind so-called pro- Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine, the regime of Vladimir Putin has indiscriminately targeted both civilian and military targets, across the line of contact, in flagrant violation of the Minsk ceasefire and the law of war. In fact, shelling was occurring just 1 day prior to my visit to the Eastern Front.

The Eastern Front, even saying it now, before my colleagues in the Senate, the phrase seems almost surreal and harkens back to a bygone era in which the Cold War dominated our political landscape.

The first time I visited Ukraine was in 1989--1989--as part of an agricultural exchange program. The Soviet Union was on the verge of collapse, and the spirit of independence, freedom, and self- determination was gaining steam. My gracious Ukrainian hosts didn't want to discuss farming. It was an agricultural exchange, but they didn't want to discuss farming. They wanted to know what it was like to be an American. They wanted to know what it was like to have freedom and be independent.

Just like the oppressive yoke of authoritarianism dominated Ukraine in 1989, it once again threatens a people who have fought hard to create a nation of laws accountable to its people and as champions of human dignity, free markets, and democratic values. With our help, Ukraine has managed to hold the line against the Russian aggressors. Our security assistance, in the form of intelligence-sharing, special operations capacity-building, and, most recently, the delivery of Javelin anti-tank weapons, has enabled the Ukrainian Armed Forces to deter further Russian advances into free Ukraine and has caused the Russian military forces in occupied Donbas to pull their tanks farther away from the frontline.

Unfortunately, Russia has found other ways to attack Ukrainian interests. In November of 2018, just a few months ago, Russian naval vessels opened fire and captured three Ukrainian ships along with 24 sailors in international waters just south of the Kerch Strait. Demonstrating his contempt for the international rules-based order, Vladimir Putin is using his naval supremacy in the region to slowly strangle the Ukrainian economy, which relies, in part, on steel and grain shipping from ports in the Sea of Azov. While our military aid has been successful in assisting Ukrainian efforts along the line of contact in Donbas, future military aid must take into account Ukraine's need for defensive weapons and asymmetric capabilities to counter Russian aggression both on land and at sea. Only then can Ukraine adequately defend its people and sovereignty.

In addition to hostile military action, Russian intelligence has been working to undermine the upcoming Ukrainian Presidential and parliamentary elections. Much like the interference in our own elections in 2016, Putin is seeking to sow discord, spread confusion, and undermine the democratic system that has taken root in Ukraine. This is indicative of Russia's global strategy, which seeks to drive a wedge between the United States and our allies, undermine democratic governments, and return to an era of power politics in which brute strength rather than the rule of law governs global interactions.

China has adopted a similar, albeit more subtle and increasingly aggressive, strategy in Asia, with an overarching goal of displacing American global leadership. Thus, it is more important than ever for the United States to work by, with, and through our allies around the world to ensure a future in which our values of freedom, the rule of law, human rights, and free markets prevail for generations to come.

Today freedom's frontier runs through the line of contact in eastern Ukraine. We must never turn our backs on a people yearning for the same freedoms we enjoy in the United States. Doing so not only legitimizes the actions of thugs--yes, thugs--around the world but will inevitably threaten our own rights and freedoms tomorrow, which many of us take for granted today.

We are Americans, and we will always answer the call to preserve freedom while reaching out a hand to those who are fighting to achieve it.

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