At a press conference this afternoon, Senator Portman, co-chair of the Senate Ukraine Caucus, discussed the latest developments regarding Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and stressed the need for additional, tougher sanctions on the Russian government and economy.
While delivering his remarks, Portman displayed a flag that was given to him by Ukrainian soldiers when he visited the “line of contact” in 2018.
A transcript of his remarks can be found below and a video can be found here.
“So I couldn't agree more with what my colleagues had said about us banning Russian oil.
“We should do absolutely everything we can do to help tighten the noose on the Putin economy. And it is absurd that we're bringing in over 600,000 barrels of oil a day from Russia at a time when we shut down Keystone, 800,000 barrels a day and stifle our own production here. To me, that's kind of a no-brainer. It's totally unsustainable, what the current policy is. We've got to go well beyond that. We've got to ensure that we are also doing everything we can to flood the zone in terms of providing the Ukrainians the weapons they need to protect themselves.
“Several years ago, I went out to the line of contact, which is a euphemism for the border between Ukrainian controlled territory on one side and Russian controlled territory on the other side in Eastern Ukraine. At this line of contact, I met a lot of really remarkable Ukrainian patriots. They gave me this flag and I just found it today. And it says, 'from Warriors and Patriots, glory to Ukraine, glory to the heroes, Slava Ukraine' is what they say. And then the response is, 'glory to the heroes.'
“On Sunday, I was with 1,000 Ohioans in Cleveland, Ohio, people who have come together to support Ukraine, not just Ukrainians, but Latvians and Lithuanians and Poles, others from the region. But the stories were unbelievable of family members back home who were joining the military for the first time, who were fearful for their kids, their grandkids. And you see what's going on today, the horrific scenes in Ukraine. It didn't surprise me that the Ukrainians fought and continued to fight for their homeland because I've looked into the eyes of these soldiers and seen their patriotism, their sense of pride in their country. But I must say I am discouraged today because glory to the heroes, they are warriors, they are Patriots, but they're outgunned badly.
“The United States needs to do more. One thing we should do in terms of weaponry, in my view, is help to ensure that these airplanes that have been talked about actually get delivered to Ukraine, even if it means the United States of America is stepping up and saying to our European allies who have the planes that are operable with the Ukrainian air forces, we will pay you or exchange other military equipment for you to be able to use these MIGs, these airplanes that the Ukrainian pilots can fly in Ukraine. We should be doing more in terms of providing drones to Ukraine. As you know, Turkey has provided some drones. This is the sort of stuff that they need. This is what the Ukrainian ambassador told us when she was here the day before yesterday.
“In terms of the economic front to tighten that news includes saying Russia shouldn't have preferential access to our market. Currently, they have what's called PNTR, permanent normal trade relations. It's a most favored nation status with the World Trade Organization. It should end. And every freedom-loving country in the world should stop that access of Russian goods to our markets. By the way, it also would include a 50 cent per barrel increase in Russian oil if we did that because we give them preferential treatment under this agreement. So I appreciate being here with my colleagues and I appreciate their steadfastness and willingness to speak for the people of Ukraine. We all speak for them.
Alerts Sign-up