On the recordApril 4, 2025
I want to acknowledge my colleague from Virginia, Senator Warner. Thank you for your extraordinary leadership of the Senate Intelligence Committee. You have brought your intellect, your talent, and your ingenuity to the service of the Nation's security, and you have been doing a remarkable, remarkable job. I thank you. Mr. President, in February 2024, Russia began its invasion of Crimea, a part of Ukraine. Little green men arrived suddenly in masks and unmarked uniforms, but everyone knew them to be Russians, acting on the orders of the Kremlin, despite the Kremlin's rather pathetic denials. I traveled to Ukraine shortly after, joined by colleagues in Congress from both parties. We were there to speak with our friends in Kyiv and to pledge our support for our ally, to reinforce in our own way our commitment to NATO's eastern flank and to uphold our obligations under the 1994 Budapest Memorandum. That memorandum assured Ukraine's territorial integrity if Ukraine gave up the nuclear weapons it acquired when it was part of the Soviet Union. At the time, Ukraine had the third largest nuclear stockpile in the world. Not only was the United States a signatory to that assurance, along with the UK, but so was the Kremlin. Well, Ukraine did give up its nuclear weapons in 1994, and, sadly, Russia violated the terms of that agreement with ferocity.…
