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NO FLOWERS FOR UKRAINIAN WOMEN ON INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of January 4, 2021, the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Speier) is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.
Ms. SPEIER. Madam Speaker, I am grateful for the opportunity tonight for a Special Order on this International Women's Day.
There are a lot of ironies about this day. We in the Democratic Women's Caucus and the Bipartisan Women's Caucus could not let this day go by without drawing attention to what is happening in Ukraine to women, mothers, and children. The irony is particularly significant because International Women's Day is a national holiday in Ukraine and Russia.
The Administrator of USAID and former U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power commented on this today. She referenced that the founder of International Women's Day was a woman by the name of Theresa Malkiel. She was a Jewish labor organizer in New York. She was born in what is now Ukraine, and she emigrated to the United States to escape persecution. Madam Speaker, 130 years later, Ukrainian women are now being forced to leave their homes as well.
Now, we are heralding the incredible strength of Ukrainian women. They are facing unimaginable horrors brought about by Vladimir Putin and Vladimir Putin alone.
Last year, President Putin sent a message to women for International Women's Day in Russia. He said: ``I wish you good health and success .
. . . And, of course, I would like you to have as many reasons for smiles and joy as possible.''
I guess the question to ask Putin is: Does that apply to Ukrainian women as well, the women you presume are Russian but are willing to have them be forced into death marches because you feel compelled to shell communities throughout Ukraine?
Last week, Vladimir Putin's forces killed a woman and two children in cold blood as they attempted to escape over a bridge in Irpin, a suburb of Kyiv, and he continues to order the shelling of evacuation corridors as Ukrainian civilians attempt to flee. Over 1 million of them have already left. It is going to be millions and millions more.
Let me just show you a couple of pictures, Madam Speaker. This is a woman in Ukraine on International Women's Day, thanks to Vladimir Putin. This is what Vladimir Putin thinks of women. These are the smiles he wants to see on their faces, the joy he wants to see in their eyes.
This man needs to be called out for what he is. He is a tyrant, and he is committing premeditated war on the Ukrainian people and Ukrainian women and children. He is doing so and committing war crimes as well.
Let me show you yet another picture, Madam Speaker.
This is one that is hard to look at. These are three dead women who were trying to escape and were shelled down. They are now dead. They have their suitcases and their backpacks. One is a small girl. This is what Vladimir Putin is doing in Ukraine, and he must be called out for it.
His bloodthirsty disregard for the lives of women and children has never been more apparent. Last month, I was disgusted to hear him use a crude rape reference to urge Ukraine to acquiesce to Russia's demands, saying: ``You may like it. You may not. But you will have to endure it, my beauty.''
Vladimir Putin said this: ``You may like it. You may not. But you will have to endure it, my beauty.''
His senseless war has already caused nearly 500 civilian deaths, and it is probably more than that, including 29 children, and it is probably more than that. He has already forced 2 million Ukrainian people, mostly women and children--in fact, about half of them children--to flee their country.
On the news tonight was a story about an 11-year-old child whose mother let him leave. He traveled 700 miles to get to a safe haven. His mother, from some outpost somewhere in Ukraine, put up a video thanking those who had taken her son into their arms and who had brought him to safety. That is what Vladimir Putin is forcing Ukrainian families to do.
The vast majority of these refugees, as I said, are women and children who have left their husbands, their brothers, and their fathers behind to fight. For the first time--for the first time ever--
half of these refugees are children.
Now, think about the scars that will take place in the minds of those children over their lifetimes. These are children who should be home playing in their neighborhoods and heading off to school, not hiding in bomb shelters and fleeing across borders, not crying in their mama's arms for milk when all they can get is water.
Women and girls who are single and arriving at the border face an increased risk of exploitation and abuse, including sexual violence, gender-based violence, and trafficking.
Welcome to International Women's Day. Welcome to what Vladimir Putin said he wanted, to put smiles and joy on the faces of women. Instead, women are becoming victims of sex trafficking and rape.
The disruption of essential services and emergency medical care has already affected the women in Ukraine. We have seen heartbreaking reports of mothers giving birth in makeshift bomb shelters and underground metro stations as Russia bombs Ukraine's cities.
The U.N. estimates that 80,000 Ukrainian women will give birth in the next 3 months--80,000 of them. That is as many women who will give birth as I have in one of my larger cities in my district. Many of these women are going to do it alone without the support of their family or their spouses, and they are going to do it without access to medication or critical and lifesaving care.
This is the joy and smiles that Vladimir Putin talked about in his address for International Women's Day last year. I don't know what he said to the Russian women today. Did he send them flowers, give them candy, and offer them gifts?
This is what he calls gifts to the Ukrainian women. The Russian conflict in the Donbas region has already led to an increase in sexual violence. In 2019, one in three Ukrainian women reported experiencing physical or sexual violence, and the current crisis increases this risk exponentially.
We have seen a horrific increase in sexual violence just in the past 2 weeks. In the city of Kherson alone, Russian soldiers raped at least 11 women, in some cases so brutally that only five of them have survived.
We must elevate these stories and call Vladimir Putin out for what he is. He is a misogynistic, evil dictator.
Nevertheless, Ukrainian women are fighting back. I am really in awe of the ordinary, brave Ukrainian women who are leading the fight to protect their country.
I am going to show you a picture now, Madam Speaker, of the Ukrainian women. These are Ukrainian women. They represent almost 22 percent of Ukraine's armed forces, which is one of the highest percentages in the world. In the United States, the number of women serving in the military is like 18 percent. It is 22 percent in Ukraine.
Many women, many mothers, are taking their children to the border to hand them off to family members in Poland or Romania or other locales and then going back in to join in the fight.
More women are joining the fight every day. They are teachers, nurses, accountants, police officers, and grandmothers. The list goes on and on. Even women members of the Ukrainian parliament, who just 1\1/2\ weeks ago were writing their country's laws, have taken up arms in defense of Ukraine.
I guess we should all ask a question: Would we do that?
The Ukrainian parliamentary members are doing that. It is important for us to have their backs.
I am proud that the United States has imposed unprecedented sanctions and export controls on the Russian economy. I am proud of what our President has done by solidifying the support of all NATO nations, something that hasn't been done for a very long time.
NATO countries throughout Europe are stepping up in terms of how much money they are committing to their defense. They all recognize that this is about more than Ukraine. This is about freedom for all of Europe.
I commend the Speaker for working quickly to bring a Russia energy sanctions package to the floor and committing to sending $14 billion to Ukraine to aid its military and assist with humanitarian responses. We must bring the full weight of the U.S. Government and our allies to bear in holding Putin accountable for his aggression and his violations of international law.
Let me show you this picture, Madam Speaker. This is International Women's Day. There is no joy on the faces of these people. There are no smiles.
This is Vladimir Putin's war. He has every intention to annihilate an entire population of people in Ukraine. This is not just an unprovoked war; this is a premeditated, savage, murderous, and tyrannical attempt of genocide.
I hope that we have the guts to call him out. We need to create our red line, and our red line should be that every Ukrainian person who wants to leave the country will have safe passage to a safe country before another bullet or another missile is put into the air.
I hope we do not see the unthinkable happen in Ukraine.
God bless our Ukrainian women and children. God bless our Ukrainian President. God bless the military in Ukraine who fights on and all those who recognize that freedom is not cheap and freedom is not given. If you want a democracy, you have to be willing to put your name, your body, and your soul on the line to protect the community that you love.
Madam Speaker, I have the great and distinct honor to yield to the gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Kaptur), who is my colleague whom I adore. She co-chairs the Congressional Ukrainian Caucus and has been passionate about drawing attention to the fate of the Ukrainian people.
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Ms. KAPTUR. Madam Speaker, I want to thank Congresswoman Jackie Speier of California for her leadership on so many issues, including women. Not just women but for people everywhere, in our country, those who have been abused, those who serve in our military, and those who serve in our intelligence services. I thank her for her great contributions to our country, how she has lived her life and has served so nobly. The people of California have really sent a jewel here, and they know it. I shall miss her greatly when she makes her decision to leave us at the end of this session of Congress. She is truly a friend and a friend to the American people.
I am very honored this evening to join her and rise on this International Women's Day to call out the damaged and really bestial soul of Vladimir Putin. His torturous treatment of the women, children, and elderly of Ukraine is a war crime.
He is about genocide in a country that 30 years ago voted to be independent. When the Soviet Union fell, 90 percent of the people of Ukraine, about 42 million people, voted that they wanted to be free. It was an extraordinary moment in world history.
But yet, we hear from this--what do I call him--Russia's tyrant--last year on International Women's Day, he issued a statement. Here is what he said: Congratulations to women--calling the day a ``holiday filled with joy, warmth and goodness.'' And he talked about mothers, granddaughters, grandmothers, aunts, sisters, saying how they represented love and tenderness and how good this was. Yet, if we look at the pictures that are here, he is killing them.
There are pictures of the people. Look at this woman. He says tenderness and love and that women are taking care of countries and they are raising children. He is killing them.
The elderly and the disabled--I received a letter today, and two individuals were killed in a car because a Russian bomb came down in a civilian area. The woman who was driving was elderly, and the person she had in the car with her was disabled. He is massacring civilians. He says he loves women. Really? They are dead. They didn't have a chance. They are civilians.
In terms of the disruption of life in Ukraine, God bless them. Over 2 million have now fled from their tiny, little homes. It is one of the poorest Nations in Europe, but it wants its freedom.
Here is a picture of the numbers of people fleeing. You can see, if you look at the number of headscarves, these are women with their children. Many at the Ukraine-Poland border are kissing their husbands goodbye, they fear for the last time. The children are crying.
In the westernmost city of Ukraine, Lviv, there is a sea of displaced people. Europe has not seen this since the Second World War, nothing like it. Free people everywhere have to pay attention. These are good people.
Seventy-five percent of the food raised in that country that is eaten by the people there is raised by those women in their family plots, in their gardens. Putin is killing them. He is killing the mothers and grandmothers of Ukraine.
What do his statements matter in the Kremlin, when he comes out of his cave, wherever that is. We see the butchery on the news every night. We see it on our iPhones. Our visceral feelings of horror pale in comparison to the lived reality of those who now know deep fear, anxiety, and loss.
The reality is that Putin is sending his troops in those tanks and those jets up in the air to shoot and bomb hospitals and maternity wards and kindergartens and schools. He has already killed, from 2014 to the present, when he first invaded Ukraine, 14,000 people who aren't known to the world, and now more. He has no heart.
In his statement last year, on International Women's Day, he said: Thank you to the women doctors, the paramedics, the medical nurses, and all of those who are saving lives and nursing patients back to health. What a lie.
These women in Ukraine today, without proper bandages, without medical equipment, are caring for women who are pregnant and delivering in the subway systems of the capital city, in Kyiv. If they need a C-
section and they are cut, there is no thread to sew them up. How about that, Putin? How about that?
How many children have you killed since your invasion of Ukraine? The misery among these people.
This abominable creature is now spilling the blood of those he once heralded. Ukraine's medical professionals and their patients are being murdered. The people trying to help are being murdered.
On a day Putin recently proclaimed as the triumph of love and admiration and gratitude. This two-faced liar is committing war crimes against an innocent people.
Can Putin be human? A human could not celebrate women on one day and then annihilate them and their families on the next. He simply couldn't be human. He is a killer of Lucifer proportion. He considers human life not sacred.
So on this International Women's Day, a day dedicated to honoring women around the globe, let us recognize the brave, courageous women of Ukraine.
From every walk of life, they have endured centuries of oppression. Now, with this window on liberty, this moment in history, they have a chance to take their young democracy forward, and they are fighting for it.
They are sewing camouflage material to try to prevent the planes from seeing where they live. They are defending their homeland with every ounce left in them. There is not enough food, and there is not enough water.
As co-chair of the Congressional Ukraine Caucus and as someone who has visited Ukraine since the 1970s countless times, I know these women and their bravery. There is nothing you can teach a grandma in Ukraine that she hasn't been through. We call them babusyas. They are the world's strongest women. They have endured so much. Ukraine's women are truly engaged in a battle to slay Goliath.
Ukraine's passionate, generous, and courageous women are on the front lines. There are some who are serving in the military itself, on the home front, in their neighborhoods.
I don't know if anybody saw the babusya, a grandma, who had a pan, and she hit an armed drone out of the air. How about that? They are learning how to use guns, to do anything to help their people in beating the savage attacks of Kremlin's Putin.
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The entire world sees the bold spirit of these women. Here in America, we see that spirit in Ukraine's remarkable Ambassador Oksana Markarova, who has such dignity, dignity under pressure, real courage, rallying our Nation and our leaders for the aid of her country. We must hear her. We must hear the pleas of the people of Ukraine.
In the midst of unceasing atrocity, Ukraine's women are pouring their hearts and souls into the righteous cause of defending the bright shining light of liberty. They can see it.
I will tell you one experience I had when I first went to Ukraine, and I watched how the people walked with their heads down, and they didn't want to be noticed. They tried to be almost disappeared while they were walking down the sidewalk. They didn't want to make eye contact with anybody.
Today, when you go to Ukraine, the new generation, they look at you, they have hope in their eyes, there is possibility. They want to access West. There is no more noble duty than defending liberty and letting others enjoy its bounty.
When envisioning the vanguards of democracy, don't think of some mythical beings. Instead, think of the flesh and blood of Ukrainian women who are protecting and defending the precious blessings of the bit of democracy and liberty that they have been able to taste. These women are the real heroines among us.
Today, America and the world rise up in solidarity with Ukraine's women. Let us salute their valiant fight against the darkness and the murderous behavior of Vladimir Putin. We stand with them, and we stand with Ukraine. No country in the world has done more for Ukraine than the people of our great country.
Today, on International Women's Day in the year of 2022, America exclaims to Ukraine's women: Slava Ukraini. Thank you, we love you, we know you are going to be victorious. It is going to take a bit more time, but know that we in the free world stand with you and are doing everything possible to save you, to save your beloved families, to save your communities, to save your country. You so deserve the liberty that you have earned.
I say in many of my speeches back home, there is no more sacred soil than the soil of Ukraine because of what its people intergenerationally have endured through no fault of their own. They deserve to be free. They have earned it.
Ms. SPEIER. I thank the remarkable gentlewoman from Ohio, whose passion and commitment to the Ukrainian people is just so evident. She said that they will be victorious. I believe her because we are going to make sure they are going to be victorious. We have their backs.
I am reminded of this comment by one Ukrainian woman, and she said: Nobody thought this is how we would spend our weekend; a teacher from the town of Dnipro told a cameraman as she and her neighbors made molotov cocktails. She said: I planned to plant tulips and daffodils on my backyard today. Instead, I learned to fire arms and get ready for the next night of attacks on Kyiv. These women are strong and committed, and we will have their backs.
It is now a great privilege to yield to the gentlewoman from Pennsylvania (Ms. Dean), co-chair of the bipartisan Women's Caucus and a talented leader.
Ms. DEAN. Madam Speaker, I thank Representative Speier and Representative Marcy Kaptur. It is a solemn privilege to be with them tonight as we lift up the people of Ukraine, as we lift up the women and children of Ukraine on this International Women's Day.
It is a sad day. It is a solemn day around the globe, and I hope that the people of Ukraine know that we are heartbroken and determined alongside of them.
I will begin by saying, ``Slava Ukraini. Slava Heroyam,'' and recognize this International Women's Day.
I am the co-chair of the bipartisan Women's Caucus, and on behalf of that caucus, I stand here to lift up the people of Ukraine, in particular, the women and children in their suffering.
I want to say personally for me--I am speaking for no one in this case other than myself--I don't believe that we are actually witnessing a war here. I believe we are witnessing a series of war crimes; that we are witnessing a series, the world is witnessing a series of atrocities. There is no justification for this attack on the sovereign nation of Ukraine. These are war crimes, and they are Mr. Putin's alone.
I represent the Fourth Congressional District of Pennsylvania. It is Montgomery and Berks Counties, suburban Philadelphia, proud home, in both Jenkintown, Abington, and in Bridgeport and other areas of our community, to terrific Ukrainian-American members of my community.
I have known them for my entire time of public service: As a State representative for 6\1/2\ years and now in my fourth year in Congress. I have always been proud to call them my community members, but sadly never so proud as I have been in the last 3, 4 weeks, as they prepared for this horror that we all hoped would not come.
Just a few days ago, I was with the Ukrainian organizations and volunteers at the Ukrainian Educational and Cultural Center in Abington, many of whom still have close family and friends in Ukraine. And, in fact, the children there made me this beautiful headband; made for me and for many others. What was fascinating that day is everyone was coming together, community coming together--not just Ukrainian Americans, but others--to say we will not stand for the horror that is going on. The globe, the world will not stand for the atrocities, the murderous brutality of Mr. Putin on sovereign people.
One woman who started a donation drive was amazed. She went to U-Haul and bought 30 boxes, and she wondered if they would be able to fill those 30 boxes with donations of humanitarian food, medicines, blankets, clothing, and others. Well, I think there were about three container trucks later. The place was teeming with people, volunteers of all stripes, towering with boxes of donations and people furiously and very hopefully sorting those things. It was an amazing snapshot of what I already knew about the Ukrainian-American community. They are leaders in Montgomery County. They are leaders in this country. They are leaders we are watching and witnessing in this world. Their generosity and strength, their determination is extraordinary, and we cannot imagine the pain and suffering as they watch their homeland, they watch their family, their neighbors, their friends struggling with this set of atrocities.
No amount of warnings from the Biden administration and our intelligence could have prepared us for the sheer brutality and devastation we have seen. Mr. Putin expected that he would quickly topple Ukraine's young democracy. He was wrong, and he will be forever wrong, as we have watched in all the resilience and the heroism of the Ukrainians, especially President Zelensky.
Over the weekend, President Zelensky got on a call with Members of Congress, both House and Senate, Republicans and Democrats, hundreds of us. What a man of determination and dignity. I took notes. He said to us: We just want peace. We want to hold and kiss our children. We want to go to work. We want to sip coffee at our kitchen table. We want to be neighbors with the Russians.
What bravery. What dignity. And yet this war has brought on him and us a humanitarian crisis, with the number of people fleeing Ukraine already exceeding 2 million. But death, displacement, and destruction must not be forever. We must provide necessary aid, weapons, medicines, food, fuel, refuge in a bipartisan universal way. I know we all in Congress will continue to do all we can.
Ukrainians worldwide, please know we are here for you. You are welcome here. God bless Ukraine.
The U.N. has recorded 406 civilian casualty deaths. Sadly, I think it will be far more than that. An 18-month-old boy was killed in his home after he was shelled by Russian forces; 13 civilians killed in an air strike on the town of Makariv, their bodies recovered from the rubble; a 26-year-old woman killed while attempting to deliver supplies to a dog shelter in Buka; eight people killed during Russian shelling while trying to flee the town of Irpin--children, mothers, civilians; a preschool in northeastern Ukraine hit while civilians took shelter, killing three of them, including a child and wounding another.
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These tragedies are inspiring a Nation and the many women in it, and I applaud the women of Ukraine fighting to keep their country free and the women of Russia protesting and speaking out against Mr. Putin, even at the risk of imprisonment and worse.
I think of Ukraine's Ambassador to the U.N., whom we have met with this past summer and this last week--what a tower of strength; and Julia, a teacher and volunteer who wept and said, ``I just want to live in our country, and that is all,'' as she waited to be deployed to fight Russian troops.
Putin will forever be a pariah. The globe recognizes him for the murderous, brutal dictator that he seeks to be.
Yet, I have hope. I have hope in the Ukrainian people and the globe that has recognized the horror that is this series of war crimes.
Representative Speier, thank you for heading this tonight. Slava Ukraini. Slava Heroyam. God bless Ukraine.
Ms. SPEIER. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Pennsylvania
(Ms. Dean) for her outstanding remarks.
Madam Speaker, there are many people to thank. There are many organizations to thank.
When we look at who is bringing shelter and aid to the Ukrainian people now, the nonprofit organizations around the world, CARE, Catholic Relief Services, the U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organization, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the International Rescue Committee, Plan International, Save the Children, UNFPA, UNHCR, UNICEF, World Food Program, and World Health Organization. To all of them, we say thank you.
Let's be clear: This is Putin's war. He will pay the price. His vicious, premeditated attempt of genocide of the Ukrainian people will not be tolerated.
Tonight, I want to close with this photograph of Ukrainian women in uniform. They are fighting for their country, their future, their children, and truly for freedom around the world.
Madam Speaker, I yield back.
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SOURCE: Congressional Record Vol. 168, No. 41
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