McConnell at Hearing on Russian Abduction of Ukrainian Children

WASHINGTON, D.C.
– U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY), a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, made the following comments today at a State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Subcommittee hearing on Russian abduction of Ukrainian children:
“Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for convening this hearing. And thank you all for being here today.
“I’d like to offer a particular welcome to you, Madam Ambassador. Getting a town that’s often consumed by its own metaphorical political warfare to pay attention to the harsh realities of your country’s real-life war for survival is a challenge – and I commend you for your work.
“Russia’s systematic abduction of Ukrainian children is horrifying. And it’s just a small glimpse into the tremendous pain and suffering that Russia’s unprovoked war against Ukraine has caused. Putin has stolen children from innocent families, and his war has stolen youth from a generation of Ukrainians.
“As I’ve said before, we should know enough history by now not to dismiss this as just ‘a quarrel in a faraway country, between two people of whom we know nothing.’
“That’s Neville Chamberlain, by the way. And we know how his dismissive attitude to Hitler’s aggression toward Czechoslovakia turned out.
“Like then, there’s a clear aggressor and a clear victim today. Like then, the moral and strategic dimensions are not in conflict for the West. Like then, we have an interest in the outcome of this war.
“But the price of peace matters. It must be a just peace, especially for the innocent children and families torn apart by Putin’s war. It must be an enduring peace. And I’m concerned that this sort of peace will remain out of reach until we’re willing to put more concerted pressure on Putin and sustain support for Ukraine.”
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