III 

117TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. RES. 589 

Recognizing, honoring, and commending the women of Ukraine who have 

contributed to the fight for freedom and the defense of Ukraine. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

APRIL 7, 2022 

Mrs. SHAHEEN (for herself, Ms. ERNST, Ms. HIRONO, Mrs. BLACKBURN, Ms. 

HASSAN, Mrs. CAPITO, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, Ms. COLLINS, Ms. WARREN, 

Ms. MURKOWSKI, Ms. CORTEZ MASTO, Ms. STABENOW, Ms. BALDWIN, 

Ms. SMITH, Mrs. FEINSTEIN, Ms. SINEMA, Ms. DUCKWORTH, Ms. 

ROSEN, Mrs. GILLIBRAND, Mrs. MURRAY, Ms. LUMMIS, Ms. CANTWELL, 

Mrs. FISCHER, and Mrs. HYDE-SMITH) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

RESOLUTION 

Recognizing, honoring, and commending the women of 

Ukraine who have contributed to the fight for freedom 

and the defense of Ukraine. 

Whereas, on February 24, 2022, Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin instigated an unprovoked, unjustified, and unlawful war violating the territorial integrity 

of the sovereign country of Ukraine; 

Whereas, in response to this invasion, the people of Ukraine 

marshaled their will to defend their country and shared 

belief in a sovereign Ukraine in order to resist the imperialist ambitions of Vladimir Putin; 


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•SRES 589 IS 

Whereas every Ukrainian man, woman, and child has done 

their part to defend democracy and freedom in Ukraine; 

Whereas women have played a key role in defending Ukraine, 

keeping their families and innocent children safe and responding to the invasion by the Russian Federation; 

Whereas, in the first 6 weeks of fighting in Ukraine, more 

than 4,300,000 Ukrainians, of which the majority are 

women and children, fled the country in response to 

Putin’s war; 

Whereas women play a critical role in facilitating the transit 

of children to safety, including by escorting the children 

of parents and guardians who cannot leave Ukraine so 

that such children are able to find safety in neighboring 

countries; 

Whereas the women who remain in Ukraine contribute to all 

aspects of warfighting, including by fighting on the front 

lines and as part of the territorial defense, delivering supplies and weapons, and preparing cities for assaults by 

the Russian Federation; 

Whereas 17 percent of the armed forces of Ukraine are 

women; 

Whereas the women of Ukraine have a long history of defending Ukraine and standing up for their rights and freedoms; 

Whereas, following the 2014 invasion of the sovereign and 

independent state of Ukraine by the Russian Federation, 

the women of Ukraine joined the fight to preserve their 

independence; 

Whereas, despite significant contributions to the war effort, 

outdated legislation in Ukraine classifies women as cooks, 

tailors, and administrative assistants, even while women 


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•SRES 589 IS 

were fighting and dying on the front lines beside their 

male counterparts; 

Whereas women are an integral part of the armed forces of 

Ukraine and continue to defend their homes and their 

country; 

Whereas, on March 9, the armed forces of the Russian Federation deliberately attacked civilian targets in Mariupol, 

Ukraine, which destroyed a hospital that served as both 

a maternity ward and a children’s hospital, killing two 

women and a baby; 

Whereas, following the devastating attack on the well-known 

and established hospital, the world watched in horror as 

pregnant women, mothers carrying newborn babies, and 

young children fled the rubble of what should have been 

a safe place; 

Whereas the women at the hospital should have been celebrating new life and looking toward raising their children 

in peace and safety, instead, those women are seeking 

shelter in subways, giving birth in bunkers, and worrying 

for the safety of their children and the future of Ukraine; 

Whereas the attack on the maternity ward and children’s 

hospital in Mariupol was the third such attack on a maternity ward in Ukraine by the Russian Federation since 

the beginning of the invasion on February 24; 

Whereas, according to the United Nations, more than 4,300 

women have given birth since the start of the war, and 

80,000 Ukrainian women are expected to give birth in between April and June of 2022; 

Whereas all women, in every situation, have the right to a 

safe birth and access to crucial supplies necessary for the 

management of pregnancy complications, including oxyVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:09 Apr 08, 2022 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\SR589.IS SR589

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gen and medical supplies, which are running dangerously 

low in Ukraine because of the ongoing violence and refusal on the part of the Russian Federation to allow for 

safe passage for humanitarian purposes; 

Whereas the unprovoked attack on a civilian building constitutes a war crime under the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of 

War, done at Geneva August 12, 1949, (commonly referred to as the ‘‘Fourth Geneva Convention’’) and 

should be investigated as such a crime; 

Whereas the Russian Federation has deliberately attacked civilian infrastructure in Ukraine, including schools, hospitals, businesses, apartment buildings, and utility services; 

Whereas the initial days of the invasion of Ukraine by the 

Russian Federation have resulted in a disproportionate 

number of women and children seeking safety outside of 

Ukraine; 

Whereas Ukrainian women and girls, like women and girls in 

all humanitarian emergencies, including women and girls 

forced to leave their homes in conflict settings, face increased and exacerbated vulnerabilities to— 

(1) gender-based violence, including rape, child marriage, domestic violence, and sexual exploitation and assault; 

(2) all forms of human trafficking; 

(3) disruptions in education and livelihood; 

(4) lack of access to health care; and 

(5) food insecurity and malnutrition; 

Whereas the world has a responsibility to respond with care 

to the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine and in neighboring 


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countries to address the specific needs of women and 

girls; 

Whereas the United Nations Security Council adopted United 

Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 on October 31, 

2000, acknowledging the impact of conflict and security 

decisions on women and calling on all member states to 

include ‘‘women at all decision-making levels in national, 

regional and international institutions and mechanisms 

for the prevention, management, and resolution of conflict’’; 

Whereas, according to the United Nations Entity for Gender 

Equality and the Empowerment of Women (commonly referred to as ‘‘UN Women’’), peace negotiations are more 

likely to end in a peace agreement when women and 

women’s groups play a meaningful role in the negotiation 

process, and according to the International Peace Institute, a peace agreement is 35 percent more likely to last 

at least 15 years if women participate in the development 

of the peace agreement; 

Whereas, in 2016, Ukraine adopted its first National Action 

Plan for the implementation of United Nations Security 

Council Resolution 1325, and, on October 28, 2020, 

Ukraine approved a new National Action Plan for 2021 

through 2025 in order to address the impact on women 

of the aggression of the Russian Federation against 

Ukraine and to ensure gender equality in the security 

and defense sectors of Ukraine; 

Whereas representation of women in politics in Ukraine has 

increased steadily since the first parliament of an independent Ukraine met in 1990; 


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Whereas more than 20 percent of seats in the ninth and current Verkhovna Rada are held by women, the most in 

Ukrainian history; 

Whereas women across Ukraine have made political gains in 

recent years, including in local elections on October 25, 

2020, where 38 percent of deputies elected were women; 

and 

Whereas women in Ukraine should be involved at all levels 

and in all aspects of leadership, negotiation, conflict resolution, and peacekeeping in order to ensure the most enduring peace for Ukraine and the region: Now, therefore, 

be it 

1 Resolved, That the Senate— 

2 (1) recognizes, honors, and commends the 

3 women of Ukraine who have contributed to the fight 

4 for freedom and the defense of Ukraine, including 

5 women who— 

6 (A) are members of the Armed Forces Ter7 ritorial Defense Forces of Ukraine; 

8 (B) are volunteers, organizing and oper9 ating humanitarian organizations; 

10 (C) are doctors, nurses, paramedics, and 

11 support personnel, providing life-saving services 

12 across Ukraine; 

13 (D) have mobilized to assist the safe trans14 fer of the children and other vulnerable individ15 uals from Ukraine; and 


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1 (E) are public leaders, politicians, and dip2 lomats; 

3 (2) stands with the people of Ukraine in sup4 port of their fight for freedom against the Russian 

5 Federation; 

6 (3) acknowledges the women who have risked 

7 their lives to travel through territory controlled by 

8 the Russian Federation, break siege tactics sur9 rounding cities, and to ensure the safety of children 

10 and the elderly; 

11 (4) commends— 

12 (A) the bordering countries of Ukraine, in13 cluding Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Hungary, 

14 and Moldova, who are accommodating more 

15 than 4,300,000 refugees; and 

16 (B) the broader European Union for com17 mitting to provide support during the growing 

18 humanitarian crisis; 

19 (5) calls on all countries to ensure that aid pro20 vided in support of refugees of and internally dis21 placed persons within Ukraine takes into account 

22 the needs of women and the gender-specific risks 

23 that women face in seeking safety; 

24 (6) acknowledges the important role women 

25 must play in resolving the conflict between Ukraine 


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1 and the Russian Federation as outlined in United 

2 Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 (2016) 

3 and required by the laws of the United States and 

4 regulations of Ukraine; 

5 (7) further calls on all countries to promote the 

6 meaningful inclusion of women in negotiations and 

7 decision-making at all levels, including security deci8 sions; and 

9 (8) commits to supporting the women of 

10 Ukraine wherever they are as they fight back 

11 against tyranny and work for the free and demo12 cratic future of Ukraine. 

Æ 


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