{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["http://adriansmith.house.gov/call-support-ukraine", "A Call to Support Ukraine", "2014-09-26", "2014", "2014-09", "Republican", "House", "NE", "Adrian Smith", "S001172", "adriansmith.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "On September 18th I had the honor of attending a historic address to a joint meeting of the House of Representatives and the Senate by President Petro Poroshenko of Ukraine.\u00a0 It was a remarkable speech in which President Poroshenko discussed our shared values, the challenges facing his country, and the need for more American support for the democratically-elected government of Ukraine against Russian-backed separatists.\nThe opportunity for a foreign leader to address both chambers of Congress is a rare gesture of unity and solidarity between our two countries.\u00a0 Unfortunately, our support of Ukraine has also been largely symbolic.\u00a0 President Poroshenko\u2019s speech was a call to action and now is the time to do more to support Ukraine.\nIn February of this year, Russian and Russian-backed forces invaded the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea, and set up an illegal referendum for the region to succeed from Ukraine.\u00a0 Because the region was occupied by a foreign force, this referendum has no legitimacy.\u00a0 Shortly after the referendum passed, Russia \u201cannexed\u201d the territory in blatant violation of accepted international law and specifically in violation of a treaty signed by the United States, Britain, Russia, and Ukraine guaranteeing their sovereign territory.\nSince then, the world has watched as Russia continues to arm and support separatists fighting the Ukrainian government.\u00a0 The separatists likely used Russian military equipment to shoot down Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 killing nearly 300 innocent people, including an American citizen.\u00a0 There still has been no one held accountable for this unprecedented and horrific act.\nThe United States and European nations have placed sanctions on Russia, but it is debatable what effect if any these efforts have had.\u00a0 Out of fear of upsetting Russia we have limited our assistance to Ukraine to non-lethal aid.\u00a0 During his speech, President Poroshenko expressed his gratitude for what we have done so far but added, \u201cone cannot win a war with blankets!\u201d\nPresident Poroshenko then urged the United States to give the Ukrainian democracy the resources and tools it needs to stand against a much more powerful aggressor.\u00a0 He did not ask for direct American military involvement, and repeatedly stressed his desire for a peaceful solution to this conflict.\u00a0 I agree and believe we must do more while we have the opportunity to help this nation defend their sovereign territory.\u00a0 We must also show our friends in the region we will not allow this Russian aggression and expansion to continue.\nThe United States has historically been the greatest source of good, and the greatest champion for democracy in the world.\u00a0 As we have seen too often in the last year, when America backs down our enemies are emboldened and seize the opportunity in their own interests.\u00a0 We must not forget the challenges facing Ukraine, and we must support democracy and the rule of law over invasion and oppression.\u00a0 We need to reassert our leadership in the world, not to produce confrontation \u2013 but to ensure peace.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "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": ["http://adriansmith.house.gov/call-support-ukraine"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.4103688299655914, "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"}