Senator Coons Calls for ‘Just and Lasting Peace’ in Ukraine During Speech on Senate Floor
U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.) joined a bipartisan group of Senators to speak on the Senate floor in support of Ukraine and call for the United States to fully stand behind and support Ukraine as it pursues a just and lasting peace. The speech came shortly after Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s announcement that the U.S. will resume intelligence sharing and security assistance to Ukraine after delegates from Kyiv agreed to accept a potential 30-day temporary ceasefire with Russia. Senator Coons is a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and Ranking Member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense.
Senator Coons spoke yesterday in favor of a bipartisan resolution in support of Ukraine alongside a group of three other Democrats and four Republicans, including Foreign Relations Committee Ranking Member Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) and Defense Appropriations Subcommittee Chair Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). Senator Coons described witnessing the devastation of war and the resilience of the Ukrainian people. He emphasized the importance of pursuing a just and lasting peace that preserves Ukraine’s sovereignty and independence, strengthens transatlantic security, and deters Russia and other would-be aggressors.
Senator Coons also briefly addressed the ceasefire announcement, calling the news that intelligence sharing and security cooperation had restarted “encouraging” but imploring the United States to continue standing behind Ukraine fully.
A video and transcript of Senator Coons’ comments are available below.
Senator Coons: ‘Putin will only stop when we stop him.’ That piece of wisdom was shared with me on a trip to Europe by a former colleague, Senator McCain, and it seemed to me to predict what has now unfolded over the last three years. Three years ago, I was in Europe with colleagues visiting American troops training with NATO allies and partners in Poland, in Lithuania, on the day that the Russians began their illegal, unjustified, full-spectrum invasion of Ukraine. As more than 100,000 combat troops poured over the border, missiles flew in the air, jets bombed, the world recoiled in horror and watched, expecting that the Ukrainians would be overrun in just three days. Instead, President Zelenskyy, the elected president of a democracy, stood firm and steadfast and defended his country. When offered a last-minute evacuation by America, he said, ‘I don’t need a ride, I need ammunition.’
And I am thrilled to be on the floor today with a bipartisan group of my colleagues. Thank you to my colleague from New Hampshire for organizing this, to my colleague from Maine, for her words, which I will agree with from beginning to end. We must deter Russia’s aggression in Ukraine. If you look at who has joined the fight alongside Russia – Iran, North Korea – this is not a team America should be on, and if we look at who has come to the defense in aid of Ukraine, it is democracies from throughout Europe and the world: more than 50 countries who, in combination, have done more than we have, significantly, to welcome Ukrainian refugees; to support the recovery of their economy; and to arm them in this ongoing, desperate, and critical fight for freedom in Ukraine.
Who is Vladimir Putin? He is a brutal and aggressive dictator. He is a war criminal. He is someone who has used every ounce of power and resource at his grasp to shatter the peace of Europe that has lasted decades since the second World War, and to attempt to drive a wedge between the United States and our European partners and allies. The bravery, the determination, the skill, and the capacity of the Ukrainian people to stand and fight is breathtaking. And all of us who’ve had the honor of visiting Kyiv, of visiting Ukraine, of spending time with those who behind the front lines support their troops and those who have served and sacrificed have been forever changed.
I had the opportunity, with our former colleague and friend Senator Portman, to go to Kyiv and to present the Liberty Medal from our National Constitution Center to President Zelenskyy. To travel through a city shattered by war, and to visit with people determined to continue their fight, was as inspiring to me as I know it’s been to many of my colleagues who’ve made that same trip.
We are here today to ask: ‘Who are we, and what will we do?’ We’re Americans. We have stood alongside and fought alongside those who have pursued democracy, those who’ve stood up for liberty for decades around the world, and we should not shrink from this fight. We can and should insist on a just and lasting peace. We would all like to see this brutal war come to an end. We would all like to see the suffering stop. But to force on Ukraine a ceasefire that is really a surrender masked as a ceasefire would be to betray the sacrifice and service of so many. Asking Ukraine to willingly give up conquered territory and recognize Russian sovereignty, asking Ukraine to give up its desire for security and for integration into the West, to ask Ukraine to agree to limits on its military and its capacity to be prepared for what is a likely renewed Russian assault on the future; all of these would lead to not a neutral Ukraine, but a neutered Ukraine.
We know what happens next. What happens next is that the world will look at whatever peace we can secure for Ukraine and ask, ‘are we reliable?’ Is the United States a reliable ally and partner? Putin has already suffered a strategic defeat. NATO has already been expanded, the border between NATO and Russia has doubled. Our partners throughout the world have come to this fight, and they are committing even more in recent weeks as Europe has stepped up to pledge hundreds of billions of dollars more.
If we are to restore deterrence, if we are to sustain the peace, if we are to be the indispensable nation that we have worked and fought so long to be, we must finish the job. We must deter Putin from future aggression by demanding that Ukraine be secured by a just and lasting peace. The news today that intelligence and security cooperation has restarted is encouraging, but we have a resolution cosponsored by all the members on the floor today that makes clear where we stand. We stand with Ukraine. We stand with democracy. We insist on a just and lasting peace in this instance. And we stand for Ukraine.