Dick Durbin: “it is ironic that the Senator from Ohio is presiding because I am going to speak about the situation in Ukraine. For the…”

“it is ironic that the Senator from Ohio is presiding because I am going to speak about the situation in Ukraine. For the record, the Senator from Ohio, Mr. Portman, the current Presiding Officer, and I have now initiated a bipartisan caucus in the Senate concerned with the future of Ukraine, and my remarks will address that during the next minute or two. We are approaching the 1-year anniversary of a dark chapter in modern history, the forcible Russian seizure of sovereign territory in Ukraine. Perhaps the world shouldn't have been surprised by Russian President Putin's brazen attack on well-established international norms. We have seen this movie before when it comes to Mr. Putin, in Georgia in 2008, using military force to seize the territories of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. What we are facing in Ukraine is a threat to the foundation of European security agreements and norms of the last several decades. We are facing the use of military force by Putin to undermine a democratic sovereign nation's aspirations to join the international democratic community. These ugly threats and actions by Putin must not go unchallenged. That is why this week I wrote a bipartisan letter, along with the Presiding Officer, Senator Portman, as well as Senators Brown, Barrasso, Blumenthal, and others to President Obama urging the United States and NATO to work together to ensure Ukraine has the defensive capabilities and equipment to halt and reverse further Russian aggression.…”