Rep. Victoria Spartz, the first Ukrainian-born member of Congress, speaks with fellow members before the start of President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address March 1. (J. Scott Applewhite/Pool/AP/Getty Images)
Rep. Victoria Spartz, the first Ukrainian-born member of Congress, is urging the State Department to send its diplomats back to Ukraine.
Spartz, an Indiana Republican, wrote to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday that the US should consider moving US diplomats to Lviv in western Ukraine for better coordination with Ukraine. Spartz pointed to the actions of the European Union, which has returned its diplomatic corps to Kyiv.
“As the single largest provider of military and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine, it is high time the United States followed our European allies in kind,” Spartz wrote.
The US and other countries withdrew their diplomats and evacuated embassies and consulates from Kyiv and relocated them to the western city of Lviv in the days leading up to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. These officials were soon transferred to Poland, commuting to Lviv, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs suspended all diplomatic services in Lviv just before the start of the Russian invasion.
In recent days, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has urged more countries to reestablish their diplomatic presence in the country.
“We need your support, including at the level of symbols and diplomatic gestures. Please come back, everyone who is brave, please come back to our capital and keep working,” Zelenskyy said last week.
However, amid ongoing fighting and concerns about renewed Russian aggression in eastern Ukraine, the Biden administration is taking no steps to open its embassy in Ukraine on short notice, though other countries are beginning to do so, according to two US officials familiar with the matter.
What other lawmakers are saying: Spartz’s letter is public pressure for the US to reconsider this position. A Democratic lawmaker who supports restoring a diplomatic presence in Ukraine said questions have surfaced from the region as to why the Americans are not there while other countries have returned.
However, another Democrat said the State Department has good reason to be cautious about bringing Americans back onto Ukrainian soil. While Russia has refocused its war effort on the country’s eastern and southern regions, Russia’s air force can still attack Kyiv and Lviv. While any NATO civilian deaths in Ukraine could threaten to escalate the conflict with Russia, there are clearly different ramifications for the United States, lawmakers said: “It’s a very different security landscape and escalation posture.”
Watching other countries reopen their embassies, Ukrainian officials and activists are frustrated by the US’s hesitant stance. The European Union announced last week that it would resume its diplomatic presence in the Ukrainian capital.
Daria Kaleniuk, the co-founder and executive director of the Anti-Corruption Action Center, is also urging the US to “urgently” reopen its embassy. Kaleniuk believes the message is symbolically important, but it’s also important because it facilitates congress attendance and incoming shipments.
“What I’ve learned is the reason why politicians don’t come is because there’s no message. So the embassy can’t support them coming,” Kaleniuk said after spending last week meeting with lawmakers on Capitol Hill. “The lack of an American embassy in Ukraine also negatively affects the ability to purchase advanced weapons. Contractors building these advanced weapons see that there is not even an embassy in Ukraine and they are unable to work on the contracts with Ukraine.”
Meanwhile, US Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said Monday that Congress may need to approve additional funding for military and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine in its war with Russia, signaling early support for more aid, which includes the Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said it was needed.
“At the rate at which we are supplying them with arms and ammunition, we may need to do another additional spending bill to keep arming the Ukrainians and “replenishing” arms to other NATO countries that have sent their stockpiles to Ukraine.” , McConnell said of an appearance at the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce in Louisville.
Congress approved about $14 billion in aid to Ukraine just last month. McConnell said Ukrainians could win the war if properly supported.
“My stance on that from the start is that our goal should be to win. Win. And I think the government was reluctant to say that the goal is victory,” he said. “I think our definition of wins is what Zelensky says. In other words, as long as they want to fight, we should give them everything to win the fight.”