Senators meet with President Zelenskyy
U.S. Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) and Rob Portman (R-Ohio) issued the following statement after traveling to Ukraine to meet with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin, and other Ukrainian officials.
The Senators also toured the headquarters of Ukrainian energy company Ukrenergo, which was damaged in an attack by Russian forces.
They issued the following:
“We are here today to underscore the broad support that continues to exist in Congress for the Ukrainian people. We met with President Zelenskyy to discuss Ukraine’s needs as it continues to defend itself against this brutal Russian invasion and to show American solidarity with the Ukrainian people. President Zelenskyy expressed his gratitude to the American people for the critical security, economic, and humanitarian assistance we continue to provide, and we saw how this assistance saves lives when we toured a World Food Programme food distribution center.
“We also visited the headquarters of Ukrenergo, one example of the Russian attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, the largest campaign against civilian energy infrastructure in human history. Russian attacks continue to damage the Ukrainian economy and put the lives of millions of Ukrainian civilians at risk as winter approaches. It is one more piece in the series of atrocities Russia has committed during this illegal war.
“We saw firsthand the resilience and strength of the Ukrainian people in the face of these atrocities, and they deserve our support. Ukrainian Prosecutor General Kostin is working to hold Russian President Vladimir Putin and his regime accountable, and we discussed efforts in Ukraine, the United States, and at the International Criminal Court to prosecute Russian officials for war crimes. The international community must join Ukraine in this effort.”
Coons is Chairman of the Appropriations Subcommittee on State and Foreign Operations and a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Portman is Co-Chair and Co-Founder of the Senate Ukraine Caucus and a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
