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Floor Speech

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Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, last week, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, GEN Mark Milley, spoke at the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial in France. In the audience were veterans--some were over 100 years old--who stormed those beaches 79 years ago on D-Day. D-Day was a critical moment in World War II. It was the beginning of the liberation of Europe, and it was the beginning of the end of Nazi tyranny.

Looking out over a sea of headstones of fallen American patriots, Secretary Austin said:

It's easy to forget how desperate the battle was . . . but, on D-Day, courage won out over terror, daring over cruelty, and liberty won out over tyranny.

Today, that same eternal battle is being fought in another place, in Ukraine, which has begun a heroic counteroffensive to finally drive out Vladimir Putin and the Russian invaders and to preserve democracy in that nation.

Next month, Senator Shaheen of New Hampshire and I will travel to the NATO summit in Lithuania. The location--in a nation that was once under Soviet occupation--is both historic and poignant. Success in Ukraine's counteroffensive and the country's long-term security will once again be on top of the NATO agenda. We also will welcome the security alliance's newest member, Finland. I hope, by the time we convene in Lithuania, Hungary and Turkey will have ratified Sweden's succession without any further delay--another plus for the future of the NATO alliance.

Let me also state clearly that I believe Ukraine's future is in the European Union and the NATO alliance, and until the day that Ukraine can join NATO, the United States and other key allies must help Ukraine with security guarantees, as we do with other key non-NATO allies. It is clear that Ukraine can never trust Russia. It is in the interest of the United States and democracy itself that we ensure Ukraine can always defend itself, that any aggressor will think twice before ever again trying to threaten its people or its territory.

President Biden knows what is at stake in this fight against tyranny. So do our NATO allies. And I want to particularly note Minority Leader McConnell. Echoing Ronald Reagan, Senator McConnell has spoken forcefully about the need for continued bipartisan support for Ukraine. That is the ultimate strength of the American role in the NATO alliance: that we speak with one voice. And, of course, Ukrainian President Zelenskyy understands that what is at stake in Ukraine is bigger than just his nation; it is literally a battle for freedom and democracy themselves.

In his remarks at Normandy last week, Secretary Austin said:

Free soldiers will fight more bravely than the armies of tyrants.

He is correct, but the free people of Ukraine must not be left to fight this war alone. The United States and nations of the free world must provide the resources and equipment and training necessary for them to prevail against Putin and his cowardly enablers. The free people and soldiers of Ukraine are fighting today to preserve the peace and international order for which those young Americans gave their lives at D-Day. We must stand with them with resolve until Ukraine is free again.

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