Indiana republican Representative Victoria Sparz revealed in an emotional television interview that her 95-year-old grandmother had to move to the basement of her apartment building in Ukraine after a nearby building was bombed Russiabrutal invasion.
Spartz, the first Ukrainian-born member of Congress, described the horrific episode as he called for a military aide to Ukraine and said the Russian president Vladimir Putin must be investigated for war crimes.
“It’s very interesting that my grandmother is 95 today and we couldn’t contact her,” Sparz told Fox New in an interview.
“My mother just called me a few minutes ago and told me that we had reached her neighbor and the building next to her had been hit, so she blocked all her windows in the apartment and they moved to the basement,” she continued.
Indiana Republican Victoria Spartz said her 95-year-old grandmother, who lives in Ukraine, had to move to the basement after the building across the street was hit by explosives.
She said her grandmother was safe in the basement, but the humanitarian crisis had reached a new level in the country where she was born.
“I was just listening to the mayor. Saying they hit buildings, blood banks, schools, water towers, electrical equipment directly. They have nothing. People in the basement without food, without electricity, nothing. My friend just called relatives in the city of Kyiv. “They are on the ground crying and they tried to talk to the Russians to get through safely, but they didn’t,” she said.
“They were actually bombing stations and carriages to make sure people couldn’t be evacuated,” she said, urging Secretary of State Anthony Blinken to help evacuate.
Asked about the attacks on civilian targets, she said defenders “documented” what was happening to ensure there was “responsibility”.
These are not military purposes. They are places where civilians work and families live. We are watching very closely what is happening in Ukraine at the moment, including what is happening to civilians. We report it. We document it. And we want to ensure, among other things, that there is responsibility for that, “Sparz said.
Representative Burgess Owens (L) (R-UT) hugged Representative Victoria Sparz (R-IN) after a press conference before President Biden’s speech on the state of the Union. Ukrainian-born Sparz emotionally calls for additional US support for Ukraine during press conference
A man walks past burnt-out buildings affected by shelling in the small town of Borodyanka near Kyiv, Ukraine, on March 3, 2022. Sparz said observers were reporting attacks on civilian targets.
Spartz also called for more weapons to help the Ukrainian people fight
Burnt-out buildings affected by shelling can be seen in the small town of Borodyanka near Kiev, Ukraine, March 2, 2022.
She compared the invasion, ordered by President Vladimir Putin, to genocide
Sparz said her grandmother lives in Chernigov. This robbery, made from a video of the distribution, published by the State Emergency Service of Ukraine, shows a damaged apartment building that was allegedly affected by the shelling in Chernihiv on March 3, 2022. Nine people were killed and four were injured after Russian forces struck residential areas, including schools, in the northern Ukrainian city of Chernihiv, the local governor said on March 3rd.
Spartz said Putin’s attack was “not war” but “destruction of people” in a comment to Fox News
She noted that the United States is not a member of the International Criminal Court, but said: “People should be held accountable for genocide, for killing people, for war crimes. This is not war, this is murder, the destruction of people.
She also he spoke emotionally for Tuesday’s raid, when she said Russian forces were bombing Chernigov, where her grandmother lives. “They are bombing civilians, without interruption, day and night, the whole city,” she said.
“They are leveling cities, destroying people,” she said. “Slaughter them like animals.”
She also blew Biden on the day of his speech on the state of the union, saying he was “talking, talking and not doing things”, although his comments about Ukraine eventually won applause from members of both parties.
“What, will he wait until millions die, then do more?” She asked. “We have not just moral duty, we are leaders of the free world.”
Her comments come amid a push to provide humanitarian as well as military aid to allow Ukrainians to defend themselves against Russian pressure.
The Biden administration is seeking additional funding, including $ 10 billion, to tackle the emerging humanitarian crisis in Ukraine, as well as to protect its digital network from cyberattacks, according to the Washington Post.
She said she met with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) On Tuesday.
She said he was determined to move it. “I told him we didn’t want this big garbage bag,” and I called for it to be dealt with, as Congress dealt with COVID, “when aid packages were adopted by a bipartisan majority (although Biden’s U.S. bailout plan of 1 , $ 9 trillion was passed in a series of party votes along with incentives).
“If we have a narrow approach to dealing with the problem, there is much more bipartisanship on this issue,” she said.
Kherson, a city of 300,000 on the Black Sea, appears to have fallen under Russian control after the mayor said “armed visitors” had convened a council meeting and imposed a curfew. If Putin’s people have full control, then the city of Odessa, home to Ukraine’s main naval port, is under attack – with assault ships observed to form near Crimea today
Diesel fuel storage is on fire in Chernihiv after being hit by a Russian projectile
Nine killed and four injured after Russian forces raided residential areas, including schools, in the northern Ukrainian city
Located northwest of Kyiv, Chirnikhov has been the site of fierce battles with Russian troops since the first days of the invasion, but is still under Ukrainian control.
A Russian air strike killed at least 22 civilians in the northern city this afternoon, and rescuers are still searching for the wreckage.
Earlier today, at least nine people were killed and four injured in a Russian air strike that struck two schools and private homes in the region.
Camera footage from the car’s dashboard, confirmed by Reuters, shows buildings in a residential area in Chernigov hit by obvious missiles.
The street was engulfed in a ball of fire, and a huge cloud of black smoke rose into the sky.
The mayor says he is fighting to organize a safe passage for civilians.
A huge fire also broke out in an oil depot after it was bombed by Russian invaders this morning.