Source: United States Senator for Ohio Rob Portman
April 5, 2022 | Press Releases
WASHINGTON, DC – On Monday evening, U.S. Senator Rob Portman (R-OH) spoke on the Senate floor about the ongoing invasion of Ukraine, as Russia continues to commit war crimes and kill innocent Ukrainian civilians. Portman highlighted the massacre by Russian troops of innocent civilians in Bucha and indiscriminate shelling of humanitarian corridors where Ukrainians seeking safe passage have been murdered. He also continued to reiterate steps that will help counter Russia – including cutting off the energy revenue that fuels the Russian war machine, more defensive weaponry to Ukraine, further sanctions on Russian banks, trade restrictions, and additional tax consequences. Last week, Portman met with four members of the Ukraine’s Parliament, as known as Rada, and Ukrainian Ambassador Oksana Markarova to discuss what more can be done to help Ukraine. Senator Portman has spoken on the floor eight weeks in a row about the need for the Biden Administration to offer more aid, more quickly. As co-chair of the bipartisan Senate Ukraine Caucus, Portman has continuously called for stronger, swifter action against Russia as they continue their deadly assault on Ukraine.
A transcript of his remarks can be found below and a video can be found here.
“I come to the Senate floor again today to stand in solidarity with the people of Ukraine. This is the eighth week in a row that I have come to the floor to talk about the illegal, totally unprovoked and brutal Russian invasion of a sovereign country, their neighbor Ukraine, who only wants to live in peace. Over the weekend all of us saw the brutality of what Russia is doing. We saw it up close through shocking videos and photographs. More than 100 civilians, not soldiers, but civilians lying in mass graves in Bucha, a suburb of Kyiv. Yesterday Human Rights Watch released a report documenting specific atrocities, including rapes and executions.
“President Zelenskyy painted a vivid heartbreaking picture when he spoke of, ‘civilians left on the streets with their hands tied behind their backs, killed execution style.’ Here is one photograph of the shocking scenes we saw over the weekend of civilians left in the streets as the Russians pulled out of Bucha. But it’s happening all over Ukraine, these kinds of human rights abuses and war crimes. The administration called for an investigation into war crimes on Sunday. That’s good. Of course these are war crimes. The United States must press other countries and must be persistent to ensure that a tribunal is established, that these war crimes are prosecuted, and people are held accountable. Last week Senator Dick Durbin and I, as co-chairs of the Senate Ukraine Caucus, organized a meeting with four members of the Rada, which is the Parliament in Ukraine. We were also joined by the Ukrainian Ambassador to the United States, Oksana Markarova. These women told us of the human toll in this fight, which they described as a fight between good and evil, between tyranny and democracy.
“They talked about the fact that Ukraine can be a symbol of victory of the West if we support them more and if we help them win. One of the Members of Parliament described for us the scenes from Mariupol, the massive shelling and bodies lying in the streets there too because it’s too dangerous to go out and recover them. One parliamentarian told us of being separated, and often out of touch, with her husband who is in harm’s way, with the Ukrainian military, while she’s here telling us these stories to encourage us to do more. One said that there are 30 Russian soldiers living in her grandmother’s house. They forced her out into the bitter cold. They all told us with anguish and urgency what needs to happen – more sanctions, more military assistance more quickly. One of them said and I thought this was well put, ‘freedom has to be armed.’ Freedom has to be armed. I agree. I believe Ukraine can be victorious if the United States and our allies, especially the Europeans, help them to be victorious, and that means helping them more. They’re fighting with heart, and though badly outnumbered, making progress in key parts of the country. We’ve seen this in region around Kyiv where they’re pushing Russians out. This is the time to redouble our efforts to help ensure victory. It has been 38 days since Russia’s assault began.
“Russia is also now trying to redefine their objectives saying it was never their intention to seize Kyiv and the other major urban centers. Of course, we know that’s a lie. They tried very hard to seize Kyiv, they just weren’t successful because the Ukrainians fought back so valiantly. We need to watch the Russians’ actions, not their words, and their actions in the south and the eastern part of the country are they continue to bomb, bomb, and bomb civilian targets. The most important reason Ukraine is winning these battles is, of course, the fighting spirit of the men and women of Ukraine and the patriots who are taking the fight to the Russians on the battlefield. They are well trained and we in the West are part of that. For the last four years, this body, the United States Senate, has provided funding to help train Ukrainians, and it’s been very helpful. But they’re also motivated to defend freedom, to defend their homeland, to protect their families. And there’s no substitute for that kind of fighting spirit and that’s what the Russians are finding. We can also see the complete disregard for the rules of war by the Russian forces, including most recently in their actions in Mariupol. The words ‘children’ in Russian were clearly emblazoned on a theater where young people took shelter. The letters were large enough to be seen from the sky to deter bombs.
“You probably saw that – you had a theater and on the outside these huge words saying children in Russian, yet the Russians bombed this theater. We now learned, sadly, that there were more than 300 people killed, mostly women and children trapped in that rubble, and killed when the theater was hit by a Russian bomb. They continue to violate the terms of a negotiated humanitarian corridor to help civilians flee Mariupol, by shelling these corridors with artillery as people attempt to flee. For the fourth straight day, Russia continues to block the Red Cross from reaching Mariupol to deliver much-needed humanitarian aid to the city. We know the innocent people trapped there are dying of starvation and dehydration. As Russia escalates, civilian targets are being hit in various cities with cluster bombs, with vacuum bombs, even with the first ever use of a supersonic weapon. Thousands of civilians have needlessly died in this senseless war. More than ten million people have been displaced from their homes, and over four million refugees, almost all women and children and the elderly, have fled the country they love while the men have stayed behind to fight the invaders. Meeting with refugees a few weeks ago as they crossed the Polish-Ukrainian border and hearing their stories was heartbreaking.
“They told stories of their trauma through their tears, and although it was heartbreaking for us to hear it, they didn’t want our sympathy, they wanted our protection. They wanted us to help stop the bombing. The U.S. must stand with our allies against these atrocities. The president’s recent speech in Poland underscored the stakes of this conflict if Russia wins. Frankly it will mean the international order has failed and more conflict, death, and destruction will follow. So this is a war in Ukraine but the implications go well beyond the borders of Ukraine. Tonight I want to once again offer some ideas of where we can go from here. Last week I talked a lot about our top priority in the sanctions front, needing to be cut off Russia’s number one source of revenue that fuels the war machine and that’s the revenue that comes from Russian energy sales. Energy is by far Russia’s biggest export. It accounts for almost half of Russia’s entire federal budget. The revenues from oil account for between 40 and 50 percent of Russia’s budget. Over the past year the average oil revenues going back to Russia from their exports to the United States alone, just to the U.S., and we imported relatively little compared to other countries in Europe, for instance, but it was $50 million a day we were sending to Russia.
“Under pressure from Congress, the administration reversed course and supported blocking Russian oil, natural gas, and even coal imports into the United States. Thank goodness. It made no sense for us to be helping fund the Russian war effort, especially when we have our own resources here that are actually cleaner resources that we need to provide access to. I welcome the president’s announcement in Poland of the creation of a joint U.S.-European Union task force to reduce Europe’s dependency on Russian energy and strengthen Europe’s energy security. That agreement is a good step forward. I’m glad that we agreed to do that and got the Europeans to sign up to this agreement. But to make it work, to make it actually happen, we’ve got to support domestic energy producers here as a means of supporting our national security, especially with this Russian invasion. The importance of the United States having an all-of-the-above robust approach to power our nation, which includes fossil fuels, carbon capture technologies, hydrogen, renewables, and nuclear power cannot be overstated. As a practical matter, if we want to stop the revenues going from Europe, the billions of dollars to Russia to fund this war machine, we are going to have to change our policies here in America to provide more American liquefied natural gas to go to Europe.
“That’s what the agreement calls for. But we are going to have to change policies to make that happen so that American energy can substitute for Russian energy. Unfortunately, we aren’t off to a really good start of late. The president just sent his FY 2023 budget request to Congress and among the proposals are the elimination of important tax provisions used by our domestic producers, including oil and gas, like the deduction for intangible drilling costs, or IDCs, which allows natural gas and oil producers to deduct costs that are necessary for the drilling and preparation of wells. Taxpayers deduct their costs of doing business. IDCs are one such cost for energy companies. Shortsighted proposals like these will serve to discourage domestic energy production at a time when we need to encourage it to help in this war effort. Unfortunately, the administration has consistently sent a message to American energy producers that one of their goals is to phase out the use of fossil fuels and make it more difficult even now by stifling production. This rhetoric combined with actions like canceling the Keystone XL pipeline – billions of dollars had been invested in it – suspending new leases on federal lands and waters, and redefining things like the Waters of the U.S., or WOTUS, to make energy permitting harder. These things have led to uncertainty and less investment in the oil and gas industry. We need to reverse that. Again, along with renewables.
“There’s room for all. An important initiative to build our domestic energy infrastructure is also part of the answer. We need more pipelines and we need more LNG export facilities. And that requires streamlining the federal permitting process. Historically it can take a decade or more for the federal government to issue permits to build pipelines. We have a law called Fast-41 which improves the permitting process for big projects by requiring agencies and the federal government to work together to set out a plan and a timeline for permitting projects. It also created what’s called the federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council, which can resolve disputes over the permitting process and get a green light on a project much more quickly, whether it’s oil and gas or whether it’s renewables or solar or wind. Let’s use that process to provide this alternative to Russian energy. This doesn’t mean not following the environmental rules. You follow them. But you get the permit far more quickly and with much less expense. We’ve got to step forward and lead our European allies in doing all they can to provide substitutes to Russia’s energy sector. Yesterday the country of Lithuania became the first E.U. country to completely cut itself off from Russian natural gas. I applaud them for taking this strong action and hope other countries will quickly follow suit. Lithuania gets it. They know that it is a country that is part of the Baltics, in the region, that they could be next.
“If we don’t do this, we’re not going to be able to tighten the sanctions on Russia because we’ll continue to send, again, billions of dollars to support the war machine. The ruble has recovered its value, in part because Russia is bringing in revenue from its sale of energy. Shares on Russian stock market are trading again and Russia’s VTB bank remains open for business in Europe where it’s gathered billions of Euros in deposits, mainly from German savers. Our sanctions have left Russia’s biggest economic lifeline largely untouched and that is energy sales to Europe. I know it’s harder for them. They’re much more dependent. That’s why we need to help more. Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, it’s estimated that billions has gone back to the Kremlin in energy resources and revenues from Europe. In addition to cutting off the natural gas and the revenue that fuels the Russian war machine, we need to tighten up bank sanctions as they relate to energy. Sanctions for energy transactions don’t go into effect against Russia’s biggest banks, including VTB Bank, until June 24. That’s simply too late. President Biden must lead the alliance to do what it takes to help Ukraine win and the administration needs to make clear their objective is for Ukraine to win.
“Things like a June 24 date for energy transactions is not acceptable. We need to close the loopholes in the sanctions and of course provide more lethal aid to Ukraine. We need blocking sanctions on all of Russia’s finance and defense industry. We should expand full blocking sanctions on all the banks. I continue to call for revoking international tax and trade agreements that give Russia privileges not appropriate for a pariah country. Let’s pass the end of PNTR, Most Favored Nation treatment for Russia here on the floor of the Senate this week. Let’s get it done. Most Russian banks still have access to SWIFT when it comes to international energy transactions. That’s not acceptable. This is a massive loophole that’s sending blood money to kill innocent Ukrainians. This week I will introduce legislation with Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon to disallow foreign tax credits for companies that pay taxes to the Russian government. We have bipartisan agreement on policies to ensure American taxpayers are not subsidizing the Russian war machine.
“And I believe we should seize, not just freeze, assets of Kremlin supporters. Last week I introduced with Senator Bennet of Colorado the Repurposing Elite Luxuries into Emergency Funds (RELIEF) for Ukraine Act to require the Department of Justice to direct any funds resulting from the disposal of seized Russian assets to support Ukrainian refugees and reconstruction. So let’s seize these assets, like the yachts owned by the Kremlin supporters or by President Putin himself, and then take those funds and use them immediately to help with the humanitarian effort. Regarding military assistance, the Ukrainians have made it clear they desperately need more equipment, more munitions and they need it now. In our meeting last week the Members of Parliament from Ukraine detailed what they need from us and their list is not new.
“They said they need fighter jets. They need these MiGs and they appreciate the Stinger missiles that have been effective for lower altitude planes and helicopters but they don’t understand why NATO and the U.S. are blocking other Soviet-era military equipment to be able to help them. They want these surface-to-air missiles to be able to strike long-range Russian artillery and high-altitude rockets that are currently raining down on their cities and killing civilians with impunity. This is not too much to ask. We’ve got to find ways to send them these long-range air defense systems. Our Eastern European neighbors have S-300’s and other systems the Ukrainians know how to operate. We may have some ourselves. Let’s reposition our Patriot missiles in those countries in Eastern Europe so that they can then send their old Soviet style systems to Ukraine that the Ukrainians know how to operate.
“It is now been weeks since our Secretary of Defense stood with our NATO ally Slovakia and the Slovakian Defense Minister said Slovakia was ready to transfer S-300 missile defense systems which the Ukrainians can operate, ‘immediately.’ Let’s do it. Compared to what the Ukrainian forces have now, more S-300’s could cover more ground and intercept incoming aircraft and missiles. The bureaucratic red tape delaying the S-300 transfer is causing innocent lives every day. We must also find ways to quickly provide Ukraine with more armed drones, such as the Turkish TB-2 and one-use loitering munitions, which the Ukrainians know how to use and have been effective on this battlefield. Three weeks ago it was announced we were sending 100 so-called Switchblade loitering munitions. These are so-called suicide drones. One-use drones.
“They can be used to destroy an armored vehicle or other targets. 100 will go very quickly. We should send more and we should send bigger drones, which we have in our inventory. They can be effective against tanks, effective against ships. They’ve been asking for help across the board that is not yet delivered. They’ve been asking for tanks, more anti-ship systems to fend off missiles from the Black Sea, more equipment to clear Russian mines. On tanks, they know how to operate the Soviet-era T-72 tanks that are in the inventory of many Eastern European countries. Let’s facilitate those transfers. We can do more and we should do more. Not weeks from now but now. They’re not asking for us to fight for them. But they are asking for us to provide them the tools to be able to defend themselves. There should be no gap in our weapon transfers and we should continue to lead.
“We need to not just organize our NATO allies, which we’ve done a good job at in my view, but now help to lead our NATO allies in providing more support and coordinating the support from those countries. I also believe that both Ukraine and Georgia should be given what is called a membership action plan which is the next step toward NATO membership. It doesn’t make them parts of NATO, but based on the actions of the Russians and the fighting spirit of the Ukrainians, I believe more strongly than ever that it would put Russia on notice that these countries are on the road to faster membership because of what Russia has done.
“Some may ask why a senator from Ohio would care about what’s going on in Ukraine. Well, we should all care. This is about the fight for freedom. This is where it’s being engaged in our generation in our time. I also happen to have tens of thousands of Ukrainians who call Ohio their home. These Ukrainian-Americans are friends of mine. They’re constituents of mine. They have been keeping me informed over the years. They’ve helped me to get more engaged on this issue. I’ve been to Ukraine six or seven times since 2014 when Ukraine made a decision to turn to us, to turn to democracy, and freedom and free enterprise. But even if I had no constituents who are of Ukrainian descent, I would be standing here because this is the fight for freedom. This is our test. Are we going to stand against tyranny and for freedom at a time when these terrible atrocities are being committed? When I was on the Polish-Ukrainian border, I talked to a lot of these refugees, as I said. Through their tears they talked about what was going on.
“They talked about their homes being destroyed, their apartments being destroyed, their friends or family members being hurt, some killed. The pain of being separated from their husbands and fathers, not knowing their fate back home. By the way, they all want to go home. They all want to go home desperately. They pleaded for us to do more to stop the missiles and they all said please ‘protect the skies.’ They told us of this atrocity up close. In the midst of this atrocity, there are so many heroes in Ukraine who are stepping forward, the soldiers, professionals and civilians who have taken up arms. The doctors and the nurses, the firefighters, the volunteers who are providing food and water and blankets just to keep people alive. We pray for all of them. We pray for their families. Godspeed to them in their very simple quest, a battle for a free and independent country. They just want to live in peace. I will close with this thought. The Ukrainians can be victorious, but only if we help organize other freedom loving countries all around the world to support them. We must lead.
“One of the Members of Parliament said it best I think when she said she hears all the time ‘we are all Ukrainians.’ We are all Ukrainians. I think that’s a good sentiment. But she said, if that is so, then we must be like Ukrainians, meaning we must be brave, creative, and fast. Her point was we need help. We need it now. Be creative. Figure out a way to get those tanks there, to get those more powerful drones there, to get the planes there that they need, to get the humanitarian assistance that they need desperately in Ukraine into these cities. Be brave, be creative, be fast. So I urge my colleagues and the administration and the world, let’s help Ukraine actually win this war. That’s now possible. It’s the time for us to redouble our efforts and to be brave, creative, and fast. I yield back my time.”
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