Recently, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham coordinated with Democrat Senator Richard Blumenthal to demonstrate a bipartisan show of force for Ukraine.
The bipartisanship emerges in the light of devastating setbacks, including Russia’s incremental, yet steady, gains of Ukrainian territory.
Both senators recently joined Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the nation’s capital of Kyiv, which marks the first time that a bipartisan delegation has visited the war-besieged nation since Russia launched a full-scale invasion in a nearby country.
Zelenskyy warmly welcomed the senators, noting that “bicameral and bipartisan support is really important for Ukraine.”
“We feel it,” the Ukrainian president added, “we feel this unity.”
During his meeting with the senators, Zelenskyy urged the senators to provide more assistance with air systems, which he argued would be critical for enabling Ukrainian children to return to school safely in September.
In the past month, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee has passed a resolution, strongly encouraged by Graham, which called for the State Department to declare Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism.
This resolution also constituted a key part of the discussions between both senators and the Ukrainian president.
Per recent data from the Department of Defense, approximately $5.6B in security assistance has been sent to the war-torn nation under the Biden administration.