Supporting the People of Ukraine to Freely Elect Their Government

Floor Speech

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Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, almost 2 years after the conflict in Ukraine began, Russian aggression there remains almost a daily regular occurrence. The fighting has taken over 8,000 Ukrainian lives, and that number is growing as Russia continues to provide weapons and support to separatists in eastern Ukraine.

Last year, along with Ranking Member Eliot Engel and several other members of the Foreign Affairs Committee--there were eight of us, as I recall, including the gentleman from Rhode Island (Mr. Cicilline), who is the author of this resolution before us today--we traveled to Ukraine to see the situation on the ground. We traveled to Kyiv and we traveled to Dnepropetrovsk in the east, and we spoke with local officials. We spoke with representatives from civil society, women's groups, lawyers' groups, local government, different minority groups, a broad range of individuals--leaders of the Tatar community, leaders of the Jewish community there, and even former supporters of President Yanukovych, among many, many others.

We heard that same message from everyone, namely, that they were committed to building a peaceful, united Ukraine that is free to determine its own future, and that they want to do it without outside interference.

Now there is a new effort to bring peace to this war-torn region under the so-called Minsk agreements. These specify a number of measures that must be implemented by all sides, one of which is to hold local elections by the end of this year. The Ukrainian Government has scheduled these for October 25, which is this Sunday.

Unfortunately, they cannot be held in the areas controlled by Russian-led separatists because intimidation and manipulation make free and fair elections impossible in these regions. But they will take place in the rest of the country where independent observers will ensure that they meet international standards, and this is to be welcomed.

Their hoped-for success will be a real-world demonstration that Ukraine is continuing to implement the democratic reforms that Ukrainian people are determined to bring peace into their country with.

I urge my colleagues to vote for this bipartisan resolution and reaffirm that America's commitment to Ukraine's independence and to the right of the Ukrainian people to determine their own future is strong and it is enduring.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

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Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, in closing, let me again thank Eliot Engel, along with Mr. Cicilline and Mr. Connolly--cosponsors of this resolution with myself and other members of that committee--but mention in particular the decision we made to go as far east in Ukraine as we could. We traveled to the border of Luhansk and Donetsk, actually, because Dnipropetrovsk was where we flew in. To the south is Donetsk. To the east is Luhansk.

One of the great advantages of having with us the ranking member--an individual who knows the country well and knows the people well, Mr. Eliot Engel--is the fact that both of his grandparents on his mother's side are from Ukraine and both of his grandparents on his father's side are from Ukraine.

It is a reminder to us of the long struggle, the long, ardent effort, for independence, for some modicum of freedom, that the people of Ukraine have struggled for all of these years, a dream that finally seemed realized; and now, in the wake of that, you have the occupation of the eastern and southern parts of the country.

I think it is a reminder to all of us of how we can be surprised on the world stage. The United States, in my opinion, could do more in this particular case to end the aggression. As people told us in Dnipropetrovsk--and we were there, actually. We had a service in the synagogue where Mr. Engel spoke during Passover. People asked us in each of these groups--the city council, the governor, the women's groups, the different civil society groups--they said: We can handle the fact that every skin-headed malcontent that Putin can recruit, that he radicalizes, and he trains--then they send them here, and we capture them, and we hold them in our brig until the end of hostilities--but what is a real challenge is the Russian armor, that Russian equipment out there. We can't match that. We need anti-tank missiles.

Now, anti-tank weapons is what they have asked for. Many of us in Congress, myself included, have asked that we more forcefully oppose Russian aggression by giving those people on those frontlines the armaments they need to defend themselves, and the House has gone on record as taking this position.

I think it would be a deterrent against Russian aggression that has brought so much suffering, and my hope is that, as we go forward, we convince the administration as well.

The local elections scheduled for this Sunday are a concrete example that Ukrainians are determined to do all that they can to achieve peace throughout the entirety of that country. By overwhelmingly adopting this bipartisan resolution, I believe the House will send a clear message to the Ukrainian people that the United States remains committed to their right to have Ukrainians choose their own government and choose their own destiny.

I want to thank the gentleman from Rhode Island for authoring this particular bill, and I urge its passage.

I yield back the balance of my time.

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