'A Just War': US Senators Visit Kyiv, Pledge Continued Support for Ukraine

US senators Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, and Mark Kelly of Arizona held talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv on Wednesday, April 12, pledging their support to continue providing aid to Ukraine.

The president’s office said the visit was an “important signal of support” for Ukraine.

Speaking to press in Mykhailivska Square after the meeting, Manchin, who is a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and led the delegation, said he told Zelensky that he had “never seen the United States of America in a more just war” in his lifetime. “The purpose of America is to defend freedom and basically fight for the democracies that people have a desire to live in,” he said. “We’re in it to win it, with them, and we’ll give them all the support they need.”

Kelly, also a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said they spent an hour with Zelensky discussing Ukraine’s military needs.

Murkowski said the US commitment for Ukraine was “an investment in the democracy of the free world.” She said visiting Ukraine had illuminated how US funds and equipment provided to Ukraine so far was being used, and concluded that it was “worth every penny.”

The three senators were accompanied by American country singer Brad Paisley, who acts as an ambassador United24, a fundraising platform launched by the Ukrainian government. Credit: Sen. Joe Manchin via Storyful

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JOE MANCHIN: --but we've been pretty in-depth in meetings. Let me just say, we spent an unbelievable-- unbelievable meetings that we've been able to have in a visit to see up front, close and personal, the determination, and the skill, and the will of the Ukrainian government and the Ukrainian people.

And it's our pleasure to be able to give him all the support we possibly can go, back home to America, be able to explain our commitment. And I've said-- and I know from my state of West Virginia and my senators here-- we have Senator Kelly.

We have Senator Murkowski, and we have my fellow West Virginian and Brad Paisley with us to basically show the support that we have and the commitment that we have to make sure that we're here through this entire fight and this entire victory with the Ukrainian people, the Ukrainian government.

We had great conversations with President Zelenskyy. We just finished up with him. And all of his staff and briefed all the way along. And we came to Poland first, we were briefed by all of our military personnel there about how everything's being coordinated and making sure we're able to get the equipment that's needed for them to be able to win this fight.

So I've told him, in my lifetime, I've never seen the United States of America in a more just war than what this one is. The purpose of America is to defend freedom and basically fight for the democracies that people have a desire to live in, and that's what we're doing. And we're in it to win it with them, and we'll give them all the support we need. With that, I'd like to turn it over to my dear friend, Senator Mark Kelly from Arizona.

MARK KELLY: Well, thank you, Joe. Thank you, everybody, for being out here on a rainy day. We just spent over an hour with President Zelenskyy.

You know, I serve on the Armed Services Committee with Senator Manchin, and Senator Murkowski and I just spent-- and Senator Manchin-- just spent about a couple of hours here meeting with the President and his leadership team, getting a brief from their perspective of what the condition on the ground is at the front line, what kind of weapons and weapon systems they need going forward to be successful, any combat-- any combat operation, regardless of what it is, and the very dynamic environment.

And things-- things change over time. So this was incredibly valuable for me in my role as the Air-Land Subcommittee Chairman on Armed Services to have a good understanding of what Ukraine needs as we-- as they continue this operation. We want to be as supportive as possible.

This illegal invasion of Ukraine-- there are war crimes committed nearly on a daily basis here. It is unacceptable, and we just have to provide the support that Ukraine needs to win this thing. And with that, I'll turn it over to Senator Murkowski.

LISA MURKOWSKI: Thank you. You know, we are-- we are here as a bipartisan delegation. We're on a small-- we're actually one man down. There we're going to be four of us on this-- on this trip. But I think it's important that as members of Congress and as members of the Appropriations Committee, members, all of us, of the Energy Committee, we are here somewhat in an oversight role.

The United States has contributed significantly to-- to the effort on behalf of people of Ukraine, really on behalf of democracy. This is-- the United States' commitment is an investment. It's an investment in the democracy of the free world.

And so to be here to better understand the level of accountability, the level of transparency, every-- everyone that we have met with pretty much put it out there on the table in terms of what-- what we have put forward as the United States, what other coalition partners have done, where this is-- where this is going, and how it is helping the effort.

We've also had an opportunity to-- to know and understand better how Russia is purposefully targeting the energy assets and the infrastructure and what that does but the incredible response from the Ukrainian people to-- to respond to just that, to-- to fight back in every way, shape, and form, so to be here as part of this group to show the support but also to be able to take back to the Congress that what we have put forward, what we have put forward into this fight to support Ukraine, is worth every penny.

JOE MANCHIN: With that, we were absolutely just thrilled to death to be able to travel in this wonderful journey with our dear friend and my fellow West Virginian Brad Paisley. He has the largest constituency base of all of us because everybody in America loves Brad. So Brad, tell them what-- what we did, buddy.

BRAD PAISLEY: Well, you know, a month or so ago I released a song that-- President Zelenskyy was kind enough to say some words at the end of the record. The song is called "Same Here," and it's really about the ways that we are the same as human beings, desiring to live in a free world.

For me, looking around this city and being here for the first time, I'm-- I'm absolutely struck by the resilience of life, of the beautiful nature of the way that this city is trying to thrive in the middle of this conflict and trying their best, also, to be as free as they can be in this-- in this hard time.

I think, as Americans, it's one of the most inspiring things I've ever seen, and I am absolutely honored to be here and to get to spend this time with my in-- in our Congress as well as President Zelenskyy.

JOE MANCHIN: If you have-- if you have any questions you want to direct to any of us or whatever, we'll do as much as we can, and we will--

- I have-- I have two questions.

JOE MANCHIN: One second, first. We're going to go here, and I'll come right back to you, sir.

- Senator Manchin, [INAUDIBLE] NPR. You've said in the past that renewable energy in the context of global security is aspirational. Some of the Ukrainian civil society organizations I've talked to have said it's a little bit more urgent than that. Stopping Russia in the near term really has to do with not only finding alternative sources of fossil fuels but also investing in renewable alternatives.

Do you-- do see it that way? Is it possible to have equal urgency, or is it--

JOE MANCHIN: Exactly what the Inflation Reduction Act is all about. That bill was designed to have to paths, two even paths for 10 years, invest in the cleanest technologies that we can possibly use as we produce the fossil fuel, clean it anywhere in the world and replace it with F dirtier fuel being used around [INAUDIBLE]. Next of all, making more investments in the new technologies of the future of clean energy with less carbon.

We're doing both, and you're seeing more investment coming back to the United States. We spoke to the energy minister here, had a nice, long conversation with him in a meeting where we-- basically, sharing with them all the new technologies that I believe will be coming to America in the next five years.

- The leaked Pentagon documents indicate that Ukraine could run out of air defense munitions this month. And I also wanted to ask you, the-- is the Senate prepared to do anything about it? But also, the Ukrainians continue to ask for precision long-range missiles. Is the Senate prepared to do anything about that?

MARK KELLY: Well, we're constantly looking at what they need as the next game-changer. You know, we've talked to President Zelenskyy today and his staff about a number of items, and we're going to take that information back to Washington, share it with DOD, evaluate it, try to get us, you know, the support for the things that make sense.

They present a really compelling case. You know, I'm not going to comment specifically on intelligence that was leaked and the validity of it. That still needs to be sorted out. It's unacceptable. If anybody in the United States and a US citizen or our allies released that, if it turns out that is true and all that stuff is accurate, we're going to prosecute that person to the fullest extent of the law.

But our mission here is to have conversations with the President and his leadership team, figure out in this very dynamic environment what they need to be successful. We cannot let the Russians-- we've got to help Ukraine be successful in this illegal invasion.

JOE MANCHIN: We're committed to being helping-- to help them any way we possibly can. The information we gathered today-- first of all, we found out of how-- the transparency, and also the accountability of the equipment that we've been sending in, and also the money we've been sending to the World Bank, and-- and the accounting process. We're very satisfied that they've been doing a tremendously stellar job of every bullet to be accounted for and every dollar to be spent-- spent wisely and invested.

We're not spending money in Ukraine. We're investing in democracy. And if we don't win here, Lord knows, and God help us all. Anybody else?

- Did you discuss the leaks with President Zelenskyy?

JOE MANCHIN: Pardon?

- Did you discuss the leaks with President Zelenskyy?

JOE MANCHIN: Almost certainly. We discussed the leaks everywhere.

- What did you say?

JOE MANCHIN: Well, basically, we're concerned. Everyone's concerned about that. And that it's a challenge, and it's a challenge that we have to overcome. And our support is unwavering, and as they have to make their adjustments, we're going to make sure that we're able to adjust with it.

- Some evidence of-- of--

JOE MANCHIN: OK.

- [INAUDIBLE] "The New York Times." Some evidence on the Republican side amongst Republican voters and two of the leading candidates to the nomination are declining support for Ukraine's cause. I wonder if that's a concern for-- for you.

JOE MANCHIN: I'm going to allow the best Republican in the whole country to speak on that matter.

LISA MURKOWSKI: I don't-- I don't think we should-- we should differentiate between Republican and Democrat. We need to demonstrate that the American people, the American people, are behind Ukraine. And-- and that needs to be our priority.

This cannot be a partisan split. This cannot be a partisan effort. This needs to be the United States standing with Ukraine every step of the way. And so part of our job, whether it is to-- to speak to those within our-- our respective parties, different countries, we need to make sure that the support does not waver.

And part of that is in the communication. That's why a visit like this is so important, so that we can share with colleagues, this is what we heard, this is what the need is, this is how we can be most responsive, this is how we shore up our friends in this fight for democracy.

JOE MANCHIN: Let me see. We'll take one more question, and then we're going to have a little entertainment for you all to really enjoy, OK? I know you had your hand up.

- [INAUDIBLE] News. Was there any discussion [INAUDIBLE]?

JOE MANCHIN: We had a lot of good conversation on all the things that could be very helpful, and the evaluation, as Mark said-- he's our expert on all that because he's flown most everything that we have, and he's about shot every shell that we've had. So he understands it better than any of us. But we learned a lot today, and I think he gave us a better understanding of what they're asking for.

- Why do you think the White House isn't coming up with that kind of [INAUDIBLE]?

JOE MANCHIN: Well, we're not part of that conversation yet, but we're going to basically report to the White House exactly the information we gathered. That was our purpose for this-- for this trip that we took. OK. Now it's-- we're going to be entertained a little bit, guys.

BRAD PAISLEY: So I'll just play a piece of this. For me, this, as I stand here and sing the chorus of this song, which I wrote in so many ways with this very place and these very people in mind as well as the people of the United States-- so you can imagine this is an amazing moment for me to be able to just deliver that right here in front of this quaint, old church.

However you talk, whatever you think, from the songs that you sing to drink that you drink. If you miss your mama and worry about your babies and love each other like crazy and want someone to share your hopes and fears.

Same here.

I've got a friend across the ocean. Seems like a million miles away. He says our worlds are very different. Yeah, that's true, but I gotta say, he's got his own kind of football team that lets him down every year, a wife he loves and a bunch of dreams for this country he holds so dear.

He prays for peace and freedom. Same here. Same here. Same here.

Thank you, guys. One course of this. I know you know it. I'm asking the press to sing along.

JOE MANCHIN: Come on.

BRAD PAISLEY: Here we go. Take me home, country roads, to the place I belong. What?

JOE MANCHIN: West Virginia!

- West Virginia!

BRAD PAISLEY: Terrible. Mountain mama, take me home, country roads.

You're too loud, Joe. Thank you guys for having us. God bless you all.

- All right. We'll be in [INAUDIBLE] until 8:00 PM tonight. Thank you, everyone.

BRAD PAISLEY: Thanks, everyone, for being here