{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.mcconnell.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/pressreleases?ID=8684CBBF-CCE1-45A9-AFBF-0189FAA8CF81", "McConnell on Four-Year Anniversary of Russian Escalation in Ukraine", "2026-02-24", "2026", "2026-02", "Republican", "Senate", "KY", "Mitch McConnell", "M000355", "www.mcconnell.senate.gov", "mcconnell", "https://www.mcconnell.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/pressreleases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY) issued the following statement on the four-year anniversary of Russian escalation in Ukraine:\n\nFour years ago today, Vladimir Putin escalated Russia\u2019s unprovoked war against Ukraine with a violent blitzkrieg designed to quickly subdue and subjugate a free and sovereign Ukraine. This plan failed, and his addled dream of swift neo-Soviet conquest has become instead a brutal and inconclusive war that has succeeded in tanking Russia\u2019s economy, expanding NATO, prompting America\u2019s allies to invest more urgently in defense, and trading more than a million casualties for a small fraction of Ukrainian territory.\n\nIn four years, Ukraine has forged defenses of hardened veterans, determined to defend their homes and families, and placed itself at the cutting edge of military technology and tactics. But while Ukraine\u2019s heroes hold the line, her civilians spend a fourth straight winter in darkness and cold, and thousands of her abducted children sit in Russian captivity.\n\nEnding this war is a noble and urgent goal. But the price and nature of peace matters a great deal to Ukraine, America, and the West. Securing a just, stable, and enduring peace will require two things: that we accurately assign blame where it belongs (Russia) and that we speak the only language Putin seems to understand (strength).\n\nToday, America\u2019s European allies continue to shoulder the greatest share of material assistance to Ukraine. But there remains no substitute for the American-made systems capable of forcibly changing Putin\u2019s calculus. Sustained support to Ukraine\u2019s defense is the best way to achieve and secure a peaceful outcome to this terrible war. If America is to lead the way to peace, then we ought to settle an open question while we\u2019re at it and clearly demonstrate the credibility of our commitments and our threats.", 1, "2026-04-04T05:28:40Z", "2026-04-04T05:30:10Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.mcconnell.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/pressreleases?ID=8684CBBF-CCE1-45A9-AFBF-0189FAA8CF81"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 2.246011048555374, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}