Majority Leader Schumer Floor Remarks On Senate Passage Of Bipartisan Resolution Condemning Vladimir Putin For Atrocities And Alleged War Crimes Against The People Of Ukraine

Washington, D.C. –  Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) today spoke on the Senate floor before the Senate passed S. Res. 546, condemning Vladimir Putin and others for committing atrocities and alleged war crimes against the people of Ukraine, by unanimous consent. Below are Senator Schumer’s remarks:

Now it has been twenty days – twenty long, bloody days – since the war erupted on the European continent.

Today all of us in this chamber join together – as Democrats and Republicans – to say that Vladimir Putin cannot escape accountability for the atrocities committed against the Ukrainian people.

The legislation passing today, championed by Senator Graham, sends an unmistakable message that the U.S. Senate stands with Ukraine, stands against Putin, and stands with all efforts to hold Putin accountable for the atrocities levied upon the Ukrainian people.

Putin is not winning militarily. So now this evil man is trying to win by massacring civilians, massacring babies, parents, the elderly, pregnant women, shooting at hospitals, sending missiles to hospitals, and apartment buildings. Just as he did in Syria. Just as he did in Chechnya, wiping out the civilian population in hopes of winning.

But in his monomaniacal hubris, Putin has severely – severely – underestimated the Ukrainian people. Every time an innocent Ukrainian is killed, the resolve of the Ukrainian people grows stronger and we stand with them.

We’ve all seen the images, heard the stories, watched the videos of the realities of this awful war. Hundreds, maybe even thousands, of civilians have been killed: as I said, from the elderly all the way down to babies not even a month old. These atrocities deserve to be investigated for war crimes.

Entire cities with hundreds of thousands of people have been left with no water, no power, no connection to the outside world. Unable to overtake Ukraine in a quick strike, Russian forces seem to be openly targeting sites that have little military significance.

So today I am proud to ask Unanimous Consent and ask all of my colleagues to support today’s legislation condemning Putin’s atrocities and supporting efforts to hold him accountable before the eyes of the entire world.

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