WASHINGTON, D.C. — Following Ukrainian President Zelenskyy’s address to Congress, Senator John Hoeven outlined additional actions the U.S. can take to support Ukraine and counter Russia’s aggression. Specifically, the senator stressed the need to:
“President Zelenskyy is showing real leadership, and the people of Ukraine are doing a tremendous job as they bravely defend their nation,” said Hoeven. “The U.S. can and should expand our efforts to push back against this unprovoked attack on Ukraine. We need to provide needed military equipment for Ukraine to continue to defend itself. At the same time, we need to put the greatest amount of pressure possible on the Putin regime, which can be accomplished both through increased sanctions and by expanding U.S. energy production to further isolate Russia from the global economy. To this end, the Biden administration needs to take the handcuffs off our energy producers, enabling them to utilize America’s vast energy resources to strengthen the security of the U.S. and our allies and cut the revenue going to the Kremlin.”
Providing Aid & Imposing Sanctions
Hoeven recently helped introduce the Never Yielding Europe’s Territory (NYET) Act, legislation that provides critical support to Ukraine to defend itself and imposes immediate sanctions on Russia to inflict real costs on the Kremlin. Further, the senator has urged the Biden administration to allow the transfer of Soviet-era fighter aircraft from Poland to Ukraine and sponsored legislation to ban the U.S. from importing Russian energy and remove Russian fuels from American supply chains.
Expanding U.S. Energy Production
Among other efforts, Hoeven introduced legislation that takes immediate action to increase U.S. energy production and reduce reliance on Russian energy. This includes: