Condemning and opposing the unprovoked invasion and egregious act of aggression against the sovereign state of Ukraine by the Russian Federation.

Whereas Ukraine was the second-most populous and powerful of the 15 republics of the former and disintegrated Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the hub of the Union’s agricultural production, defense industries, and military arsenal; Whereas in the three decades since gaining its independence, Ukraine has sought to forge its own path as a sovereign state and sought closer economic, social, and political ties with the free market and democratic nations of the West; Whereas, in February 2014, the military of the Russian Federation, without merit or cause, invaded the eastern part of the free and independent country of Ukraine, including the Crimean Peninsula, and backed a separatist insurgency in the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine, where fighting has killed over 14,000 people; Whereas the United States, a strategic ally of Ukraine, reacted swiftly to the Russian invasion, condemning the military action in strong and bipartisan fashion, and providing military, humanitarian, and nonmilitary financial assistance to the determined but beleaguered nation of Ukraine, which since 2014 has totaled approximately $1.5 billion; Whereas, on September 14, 2014, the House of Representatives adopted H. Res. 726, a resolution supporting the right of the people of Ukraine to freely determine their future, including their country’s relationship with other nations and international organizations, without interference, intimidation, or coercion by other countries, and committed itself to solidarity with the people of Ukraine; Whereas interference and unprovoked aggressions by the Russian Federation ordered and led by Vladimir Putin continued unabated, including the mobilization and stationing of 150,000 Russian troops surrounding Ukraine and armed forces positioned in Belarus to attack Ukraine from the north, including war planes and offensive missile systems, and the movement of Russian naval vessels in the Black Sea to Ukraine’s south, including amphibious assault ships, missile cruisers, and submarines, and the positioning of blood and medical equipment into position on their border; Whereas Vladimir Putin sought authorization from the Russian Parliament to use military force outside of Russian territory by staging a fraudulent on-camera meeting of his Security Council to grandstand for the Russian public and by recognizing sovereign Ukrainian territory as so-called independent republics in clear violation, again, of international law, all of which was intended to set the stage for further pretexts and further provocations by the Russian Federation to make further aggressions against Ukraine by military action; Whereas Vladimir Putin rejected every good-faith effort the United States and its allies and partners made to address mutual security concerns through dialogue to avoid needless conflict and avert human suffering; Whereas, on February 24, 2022, the Russian Federation military, at the direction of Vladimir Putin, began a premeditated brutal assault on the people of Ukraine without provocation, without justification, and without necessity, making outlandish, false, and baseless claims that Ukraine was about to invade and launch a war against Russia and that Ukraine was prepared to use chemical weapons, and that Ukraine had committed a genocide; and Whereas these actions were taken by Vladimir Putin at the very moment that the United Nations Security Council was meeting to stand up for Ukraine’s sovereignty to stave off invasion, culminating in missile strikes on historic cities across Ukraine, followed by air raids and the invasion of Russian tanks and troops: Now, therefore, be it That the House of Representatives— (1) strongly condemns and opposes the unprovoked invasion and egregious act of aggression against the sovereign state of Ukraine by the Russian Federation, the most provocative and destabilizing act of foreign aggression since the 1938 invasion of the Sudetenland by the Third Reich led by Adolph Hitler; (2) supports the right of the people of Ukraine to freely determine their future, including their country’s relationship with other nations and international organizations, without interference, intimidation, or coercion by other countries; (3) is committed to promoting democratic values, transparent and accountable government institutions, and supports needed economic structural reforms in Ukraine, including in the fiscal, energy, pension, and banking sectors, among others; (4) calls upon and commends the Biden administration for assembling and working with an international coalition of the World’s leading nations to ensure that all nations refuse to recognize the illegal invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation and to ensure that the Russian Federation is held accountable and sustains maximum economic damage from the imposition of sanctions as a consequence of its utter disregard for international law and norms; (5) calls upon the Biden administration to ban all Russian airlines including Aeroflot, from entering the airspace of the United States or landing on its soil; and (6) calls upon and commends the Biden administration for honoring and abiding by the commitments undertaken by the United States pursuant to Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty, signed at Washington, District of Columbia, on April 4, 1949, and entered into force on August 24, 1949.

Summary: This resolution strongly condemns and opposes the unprovoked invasion and egregious act of aggression against Ukraine by Russia. The resolution also (1) supports the right of the people of Ukraine to freely determine their future, and (2) calls upon and commends the Biden Administration for assembling and working with an international coalition of the world's leading nations to ensure that all nations refuse to recognize Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine and to ensure that Russia is held accountable.