TRANSCRIPT: On CNN’s The Situation Room, Majority Leader Schumer Discusses The Importance Of Aid To Ukraine After Leading A CODEL To Meet With President Zelenskyy

Rzeszow, Poland – Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) today joined CNN’s The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer to discuss the importance of the House passing the bipartisan National Security Supplemental and delivering aid to Ukraine following Democratic Senators’ meeting with President Zelenskyy in Ukraine:

Wolf Blitzer: And joining me now, the leader of the United States Senate, Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer of New York. Senator, thanks so much for joining us. I know you just had a chance to meet with President Zelenskyy in Ukraine. You're now back across the border in Poland. As Russia is making battlefield gains right now on this, the two-year anniversary of the war, what did President Zelenskyy tell you about Ukraine's urgent need for U.S. military aid?

Leader Schumer: Well, Wolf, he told us, he's a very strong man, he's dedicated keeping Ukraine free. And he told us two things; very simple. He said, if we get the aid, if Ukraine gets the aid and we vote for the supplemental package, they will win the war. They have the troops, they still have a great plan, and they have much better fighting ability than the Russians. But, he said if we don't get the supplemental and the ammo we need, which includes anti-aircraft defense, which includes long-range artillery, which includes the remote mining program to deal with the Russian mines, and dealing with the more long distance missiles, that they will lose.

It was very simple. If we get the package, they will win. If they don't get the package, they will lose. And if they lose, Wolf, the consequences to the West are enormous. Our allies will think we will not stick with them anymore. It'll be of great hurt to NATO and Europe. And, worst of all, autocrats will feel they can push the U.S. around.

This aid is essential. We went because we felt an obligation to go. We felt this was not just a nice thing to do, but there was a moral obligation to go.

And one more thing, Wolf: we need Speaker Johnson to step up to the plate. We need Speaker Johnson to make sure that we get that aid. If he put the bill on the floor, it would pass. There are a good number of Republicans in the House who know how important it is. And he has to see that history is on his back. He cannot have obeisance to Donald Trump. He has to do the right thing here. And we're going to make that point to him because we got in great detail how Ukraine will win if they get the aid, but how they won't win if they lose. One of the American said to us, of course we saw our people there, that if we don't get the aid, the Russians could be at the Polish border within a year.

Blitzer: Do you know when you'll have a chance to relay all of these messages, really important messages, to the Speaker? I know you're going to try to persuade the Speaker to bring this additional U.S. military aid bill to the House floor.

Schumer: Yes. The first thing we believe is that Johnson should do what we did. Speaker Johnson could come to Ukraine. If he just spends a day with President Zelenskyy – we went with the new general in charge. This is the general who won in Kyiv and won in Kharkiv. And now he's in charge and he's a really formidable man. We met with him. If he meets with the leading generals, if he meets with Zelenskyy, if he meets with the Americans on our side, there'll be no way he won't be convinced that we need this aid, and he shouldn't have some sort of blind obedience to Donald Trump. He has to do the right thing. But we will communicate all of this to him. We're going to figure out the best way possible to do it. The evidence is overwhelming – overwhelming – and one other thing: some of the right-wing Republicans are saying, oh, even with the aid, the war will go on forever. That is just not true. The Ukrainians will really gain. They were gaining until they stopped getting – the only reason they've lost these towns lately is because they don't have the ammunition. We were told that if they have the ammunition, they wouldn't have lost a couple of the towns that they've lost. But the Russians can fire at 25 kilometers. Without the ammunition, the Ukrainians can only fire at 15 kilometers. So the Russians can hit them, but they can’t hit back. It's a very bad situation.

Blitzer: Very bad indeed. Senator, today, as you probably know, President Biden, here in Washington, announced more than 500 new sanctions on Russia tied to this anniversary of the war, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and the death of Alexei Navalny. How exactly does the U.S. prevent Russia from evading these sanctions and further isolate Putin from leaders beyond just the West?

Schumer: Well, first, the sanctions are very important. This is a big step forward because we're learning how the Russians evade them and trying to plug those holes. This won't be the end of it. I am sure there's more that we can do. We must show Putin that he has to pay a price, an economic price, as well as a political price, and a military price. The best way, by the way, to punish him for what he did – for Navalny – is to get the aid passed, and that aid will really put Putin behind the eight ball.

Blitzer: Yeah, that's critically important right now. I want to get to another important issue while I have you, Senator, as you know, three Alabama clinics have now paused in vitro fertilization services after the state Supreme Court in Alabama ruled that embryos are children. You've condemned this. Will you pursue specific federal legislation to protect access to in vitro fertilization services?

Schumer: Well, first, this shows that there is a Republican war on women, that they won't stop even at a national abortion ban, which they are very much for, but they'll go against other rights of women. We are going to explore every way that we can undo what the Alabama court did and do everything we can to stop it. But make no mistake about it: if Republicans get in charge, they will push for a national abortion ban and they will hurt many other rights from women.

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