Ukraine

Floor Speech

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Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, now on another matter, it has been a full year since Putin escalated Russia's brutal war against Ukraine and nearly 9 years since he began his military effort to take over the sovereign country in early 2014. Putin's nonmilitary efforts to meddle in Ukraine, undermine it, and control its population long predated even 2014. It has been 15 years since Putin invaded Georgia. A few years before that, he said publicly the breakup of the Soviet Union was ``the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century.''

The former KGB agent who has run the Kremlin for two decades has been very, very consistent: repression at home, aggression abroad, assassinations, invasions, poisonings, and political interference. And whenever the rest of the world responded with accommodation rather than with resolve, Putin drew the natural conclusion that he could do whatever he wanted.

But for the past 11 months, the brave men and women in Ukraine have defied the odds. They have endured tremendous hardship and stood their ground. They have fought bravely for their families, their freedom, and their country.

At every step of the way, investments from the United States and our allies have equipped the Ukrainian people to exact a heavy price from the Russian invaders. Western assistance has played a key role, but it has come too slowly and haltingly.

Despite my urging the Biden administration to act sooner, aid did not come early enough to help Ukraine deter Putin's escalation before it actually happened, nor to slow down Russia's brutal and rapid advance in the east and the south. It has not come quickly enough to help Ukraine sustain counteroffensives or fully defend its cities against missile and drone attacks.

The United States and our friends and our partners have done enough to prevent Ukraine from losing--from losing--but we have not yet done enough to help Ukraine actually win.

A protracted stalemate is neither in Ukraine's interest nor ours. The solution that is both the most humane and the most advantageous to America's interests is quite simple: Help Ukraine win this war.

We know what it will take to make this possible. As our colleague Senator Wicker said, ``We can shift this war immediately in Ukraine's favor by providing a range of advanced weapons, including tanks, drones, and tactical missiles.'' And as Chairman McCaul from the House said this past weekend, it is not the United States that will be provocative if we send stronger assistance.

Mr. Putin is the provocative one. . . . He invaded a sovereign territory, aggressively [and] unprovoked.

Yet some of freedom's most powerful friends remain hesitant. For many months, Germany has not only resisted calls to send Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine but has actually also prevented other European nations from transferring their own German-produced Leopards to Ukraine. Time is short, and while Berlin agonizes over its own decision whether to provide Leopards to Ukraine, it should proactively and explicitly make clear that other allies are free to do so.

What about the Biden administration here at home? The administration's latest deliveries failed to include--failed to include--the longer range missiles and more sophisticated munitions that Ukraine has been requesting literally for months--for months.

Ukraine's brave resistance deserves our continued praise, but more importantly, it needs our concrete and consistent materiel support. Ukraine's strengths cannot keep self-deterring ourselves and letting the aggressors, the invaders, dictate the pace. So it is time--past time--for the Biden administration and our allies to get serious about helping Ukraine finish the job and retake their country.

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