[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 36 (Monday, February 24, 2025)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1305-S1306]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                                Ukraine

  Today, Mr. President, is also the 3-year anniversary of Russia's 
brutal, all-out invasion of Ukraine. Three years ago, Russian tanks 
were rolling toward Kyiv, and we all thought a total takeover of 
Ukraine by Russia was inevitable. As we know, instead, Ukrainians, 
fighting for their homeland, stopped, then pushed back the Russians, 
taking back 50 percent of the territory the Russians initially 
occupied.
  Today, Russia continues to gradually capture Ukrainian territory by 
force. With the help of North Korean soldiers, the Russian military is 
making small territorial gains but at an incredible cost in Russian 
lives and equipment. According to defense calculations, at the rate 
Russia is advancing in Ukraine today, it would take 83 years to reach 
Kyiv.
  Three years ago, we thought Ukraine didn't stand a chance against the 
mighty Russian military. Everyone assumed Russia would conquer all of 
Ukraine and do it very quickly. Three years in, the Russian military 
can't even conquer the territories in the east of Ukraine that Putin 
claims to have already annexed. In the areas that Russia has occupied, 
churches have been closed and evangelicals persecuted for their faith. 
Civilians have been tortured, killed, and tossed into mass graves. 
Children have been kidnapped--at least 20,000--and are being 
brainwashed to forget who they are and to adopt a Russian identity, 
where they now live.
  The Ukrainian people want peace desperately, and I hope it comes 
soon. The Ukrainian people want this peace because that is best for 
them as it is for the entire globe. But just like their Baltic friends 
before them, Ukrainians will never concede their sovereignty, and they 
will never give up on their countrymen who are currently under brutal 
occupation.
  The question is, What will make KGB Putin give up his imperial dreams 
of reestablishing the Soviet Empire?
  As we think about how we end this war in Ukraine, there is a lot 
going on right now. I don't think we want to forget that Putin has said 
very definitely, over the last 20 years in speeches, he wants to 
reestablish the Soviet Empire.

[[Page S1306]]

  I think this citizen of the United States, this Senator, ought to 
consider that sometimes we get driven by ideological waves in that we 
tend to think we have got all the answers. We can remember that there 
were a lot of conservative Republicans during the 1930s who thought 
Hitler was on the right track to bring peace to the world. Then we had 
a lot of liberals at that time, even through World War II, who thought 
that Joseph Stalin's murderous regime was the answer to all of our 
questions and all of the problems that this world had.
  Now we have people who think Russia is somehow a good nation. They 
have institutionalized corruption in that country. They have murdered 
their political opponents. They imprison citizens for giving mild 
criticism to the country. They hold American citizens hostage--and 
hundreds of thousands of their people have been killed in this useless 
war.
  Conservatives imagine that Russia doesn't exist today as I just 
described, so they are willing to sit down with people who have no 
political liberties, no political opposition. And it seems to me this 
is something that this Senator would not do.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.