Ukraine Invasion War Crimes Deterrence and Accountability Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. HILL. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 7276, the Ukraine Invasion War Crimes Deterrence and Accountability Act.

I am a proud cosponsor of this important legislation, and I thank Chairman Meeks and the committee for working with Ranking Member McCaul on this critical, bipartisan bill.

Last weekend, the world saw in Bucha what the Ukrainian people have been telling us since the start of this invasion, that the Russians are indiscriminately torturing and executing Ukrainian men, women, and children.

It is important in these periods of conflict that the United States contribute to collecting, analyzing, and preserving critical evidence of war crimes and other atrocities.

For two decades Putin has gone unchecked and never paid a diplomatic or even economic price for his 22 years of mania. He has never faced, until he met the Ukrainians, true armed resistance. He leveled Grozny, destroyed historic Aleppo with his coconspirator and partner, Assad, and he waltzed into Crimea, Mr. Speaker, in 2014 without firing a shot. The line has been finally drawn in Ukraine.

This House, on a bipartisan basis, has worked to document Assad's mass murder in Syria. As a result of that work and the work of the United Nations Mechanism, we have had a recent conviction in Koblenz, Germany, of a Syrian intelligence official for crimes against humanity.

The U.N. recently approved an independent inquiry into Ukraine. That is precisely the same step of a decade ago in Syria. Enacting this legislation will ensure that the United States contributes to this effort.

I encourage all my colleagues to support this important bill, and I thank Mr. Meeks and Mr. McCaul for their leadership.

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