 This action by Putin is the first time we've seen a country in Europe invade another country in an active decision, premeditated, unilateral, start a war of choice. This is extraordinarily harmful to peace and stability in the world and it's extraordinarily devastating to the innocent people of Ukraine and it is appalling that Putin of Russia made a decision to do this willfully, intentionally, maliciously, and deliberately. The response by the United States is going to be strong with sanctions and with humanitarian aid. The response from the European Union and from countries all over the world is a full condemnation of the action that Putin has taken against Ukraine. What I expect we will be doing is number one this afternoon I'll be part of a congressional intelligence briefing to get the latest information about what is happening on the ground but we know what's happening on the ground. Russia is attacking and the citizens of Ukraine are resisting heroically and insistently and courageously. Second, we will be discussing how to strengthen sanctions and where we are in sanctions today is so far from where we were even a week ago. Even the Swiss are freezing assets of Russia. The sanctions are going to be in our punitive, relentless and comprehensive. We'll go after the Russian ability to engage in the international economy. We'll go after Putin directly and we'll go after the oligarchs who have billions and billions of dollars in assets outside of Russia that the sanctions will seek to freeze. Third, we'll be taking up the question of humanitarian aid. Our Senator Leahy is going to be playing an absolutely major role in humanitarian aid. It's estimated already there are about 500,000 Ukrainians, mostly women and children who fled the country and all the men as you know are staying behind to fight, take up arms against Russia. But the United States will do its part to provide humanitarian aid to the innocent citizens of Ukraine. Fourth, we expect to be taking up a military aid package of about 3.5 billion dollars to provide defensive weapons for the resistance by Ukrainians of the attack on their country by Putin. This is going to be done on a bipartisan basis. Republicans and Democrats are appalled with what Putin has done. Republicans and Democrats are united in the desire to help with our European Union and allies particularly, but allies from around the world, both with military aid and with humanitarian aid. This is an unprecedented action. How it's going to turn out we don't know, but what we do know is that with the strength of unity that has been on display here where we're acting together, those sanctions and the delivery of military aid have the potential to be significantly effective in helping Ukraine do the impossible and their ongoing resistance to this horrible Russian invasion. We've got Vermonters, by the way, from Ukraine who are here and on the way up on my drive up here, I spoke to a recent Middlebury graduate, Marsha Markutunina. Her family lives in Odessa. Her family last night had a quiet night, but she has four colleagues who are students at Middlebury. One of them, her family, spent last night in the subway to avoid the shelling that is underway in many Ukrainian cities. My expectation is that the United States with our allies in arm in arm are going to stay the course and do everything we possibly can to help Ukraine resist this Russian invasion. Thank you. Well, we are putting additional troops and material into Eastern Europe to bolster our allies there, not in Ukraine but elsewhere. I think American people have to understand this is one of the greatest crises we've faced in decades. I'm glad to see that most Republicans and Democrats are coming together trying to support the very careful and major steps President Biden has taken. I think it has sent a terrible, terrible signal to our allies around the world. The former president, Mr. Trump, has called the dictator, Vladimir Putin, a genius, and saying he's doing the right thing. He's not doing the right thing. He's destabilizing Europe. He's going to cause untold deaths of innocent people, and we should be praying for the people in Ukraine. I've walked the streets of that capital. I've seen families with their children playing playgrounds, children walking to school to think that a dictator who has become a multi, multi, multi-billionaire by stealing and by corruption and by empowering the people around him, somebody who has had those who have dared to stand up to him, either poisoned or jailed, you don't call him a genius. You call him what he is. This is a man who is so taken with himself and his failed ambitions that he's ready to disrupt the whole Western world. It is wrong. Going back to Washington tonight, I'll be getting more briefings. I don't mean to get so wound up on this, but I'm the president pro tem of the Senate. I pay very closely to the fact that I'm third in line to the presidency, and I watch the reports I get, the reviews I get, the intelligence I get. It's a very serious thing. I would urge people to look at what Senator Mark Warner, one of the finest senators down there, is the chair of the intelligence committee sitting in the news this morning. We may well face major cyber attacks. It's not just the troops, the tanks, the artillery on the border of Ukraine. It's those things that are on our border and right over here and right over there in cyber. So you ask a valid question. As Marcel knows, I've been on the floor a lot the last couple of days, but this is a very, very serious thing. And I contrast that with what we're seeing here today. Let me come back to this. Look at the wonderful people here who work, who dedicate themselves, not as Republicans or as Democrats, but as Americans making life better for Americans, for our children. Listen to the children playing out there and think of the future they have. Think of what their parents hope for them. Think of what they can do for us as our whole state. That is what should be people's goals, not to make oneself instead of a 100 billionaire, a 200 billionaire and a dictator. This is wrong. The lives that are being shattered because of this man's ego. It's hard to find times in history. Unfortunately, we have seen some very dark times. So I apologize for going on so long, but I'm the longest serving member of the U.S. Senate. I've seen crises over those years. I've been bolstered by my fellow Vermonters in both parties who help us get through those crises. This one, both in reality and as an existential crisis is one of the worst things I've seen. So with that, with that good news, I, I think what do you see with some of the sanctions are going to be coming tonight and tomorrow. The thing with the sanctions only work if our allies join us with them. And it's easy to say we're going to have sanctions, but the only work if you have the allies with them, the extraordinary, extraordinary amount of time that has been spent by the President, the Vice President, the Secretary of Defense, Secretary of State, our dedicated women and men in our State Department in bringing together other countries. Two months ago, three months ago, I don't think you could have said we'd have the unity for sanctions we have now, but I know the, the weekends, the evenings, the phone calls the President's made. I know the personal appeal he's made to a lot of people that he knew before, even when he was in the Senate. And I know the calls I've gotten from parliamentarians around the world, across the political spectrum. And the unity that we're seeing, that is the only way the sanctions work. You can put on more and more and more sanctions. And but the only work if we have unity, and we have to understand we are going to face threats too. That's what Senator Warner was warning about on cyber threats. And it is certainly something that we're seeing already. I won't go into the numbers, but you would be, well, it is frightening to see the increase in the number of attempts to get into our key cyber systems. Senator, should the U.S. be prepared to accept refugees as a result of this conflict? Yes. You know, in Hungary, I remember when I was a young student at St. Michael's, an undergraduate student, and the number of refugees that were there as students because of the things that the then Soviet Union was doing. And over the years, I've seen so many of them are now the surgeon, the educator, the artist, the writer. And we were all stronger because of that. You know, my, the ladies came to Vermont in the 1850s because of the famines in Ireland. But the Italian side of my family came around 1900 because of what was happening in Italy at the time. They all added to this country. They all added to it. I became the first lady to get a college degree. My sister was the second one. But then I've seen so many others. I'll tell you just one quick story. That Judge Sessions tells the federal judge here, he would do, every year, he would do immigration swearing in. He started doing them on 9-11 after what happened in 9-11. His most recent one, he was swearing them in and he wanted to tell them a story of the immigrants. He said he remembered swearing in an immigrant from another country and how proud he was to do that, proud to become an American. Judge Sessions then had a serious blood clot in his brain. He would have died, came close to died. He said when he woke up from surgery and looked at the surgeon, he just saved his life. It was that same immigrant days for him. So if America ever stops closing our borders to immigrants, especially those fleeing oppression, then we're not the great country we should be. Thank you. Good evening. Right now, as we speak, invading Russian military forces are moving across Ukraine. We are witnessing the most massive military operation in Europe since World War II. There must be no ambiguity in acknowledging that what the whole world is seeing today is nothing less than a blatant violation of international law and a basic human decency. This war will likely kill thousands of people and create millions of refugees. At a time when the global community is already struggling with the COVID pandemic and climate change, this war could plunge Europe into long-term economic and political instability. Make no mistake about it, the effects of this war will be felt here in the United States and countries throughout the world. Russian President Vladimir Putin has justified this war in various ways, including by claiming in a recent speech that Ukraine is not a real country, but simply a part of Russia. Regardless of what revisionist historical argument or flimsy legal pretext Putin may offer, this war is clearly an act of premeditated aggression against Ukraine and its people. This aggression is unacceptable, and the nations of the world must respond vigorously to defend democracy and the rule of law. In my view, it is clear that the United States and our NATO allies made real efforts over the past weeks and months in trying to address Putin's stated security concerns. Tragically, those authors were not reciprocated. As a result, now is the time to maintain unity with our allies and impose severe sanctions on Vladimir Putin and his government. Severe sanctions. These moves should not only isolate the Russian economy, but should include freezing access to the billions of dollars that Putin and his oligarch cronies have stashed in European and American banks. At a time when he is inflicting enormous suffering and destruction on the world, Putin, one of the wealthiest people on earth, should not be allowed to enjoy the billions he has stolen from the people of Russia. I would also note that today, even as the Ukrainian people are bravely resisting this aggression, anti-war protests have taken place in 40 different Russian cities, and at least 1,000 Russian citizens have been arrested for opposing the war. Today, I stand in solidarity with these incredibly brave people. In an authoritarian country like Russia, protest is an act of enormous courage. That is why Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who has done so much to expose the corruption within the Putin government, sits in prison on trumped-up charges, having survived an assassination attempt. Putin may rule Russia today, but he cannot hide the truth forever. His day will come, hopefully sooner than later. Today, I hope all of us will stand with the Ukrainian people against this war, and with the Russian people who are demonstrating against their corrupt, reckless president who started it. The images of war that we are seeing are painful, and I fear that worse may yet be coming. In the midst of all this horror, one area where American leadership can be very helpful is in providing aid for those refugees fleeing war. The United States must work closely with our international partners in providing humanitarian relief for the Ukrainian people, and we should also commit to accepting more refugees here in our own country. Many of you are no doubt wondering what you can help do to end this terrible conflict. In my view, the most important thing that we can all do right now is stand in solidarity with the Ukrainian people against this war, and with the Russian people who are risking so much to demonstrate against their corrupt, reckless president who started it. Putin and his oligarch friends seek a divided world and the destruction of democracy. Our worldview is different. We want to see robust democracies in every country on earth, including Russia. We want a world in which people come together to address the enormous problems facing us all. At the end of the day, it will be that common humanity based on the principles of justice that brings us together and enables us to prevail. Thank you very much.