Sen. Daines, Rep. Spartz First US Lawmakers to Visit Ukraine Since Start of War

Sen. Steve Daines testifies at a Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee hearing in Washington, DC, on March 3, 2022. (Tom Williams-Pool/Getty Images); Ukrainian-American Rep. Victoria Spartz attends a news conference in Washington, DC, on March 02, 2022. Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.) and Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-Ind.) arrived in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Thursday in a show of solidarity with the country and to witness the aftermath of the Russian invasion.

The two Republicans are the first elected U.S. officials known to have visited the country since the start of the war on Feb. 24. The duo traveled from Kyiv to Bucha, a city near the Ukrainian capital where numerous bodies have recently been found in mass graves.

“What we saw today was shocking … to see these shallow graves and to watch these investigators … extracting these bodies of women, of small children, civilians across the board, it’s mind-numbing,” Daines told reporters in Bucha.

Daines added that there is “indisputable evidence” that Russian President Vladimir Putin has committed war crimes.

“America and the world need to know about Putin’s atrocities against the innocent people of Ukraine now, not after time has passed and the aftermath of evil and bloodshed have been cleaned up,” Daines said in a statement, The Hill reported.

Anatoliy Fedoruk, the mayor of Bucha, said earlier this week that 403 bodies of civilians believed to be killed during the Russian occupation have been recovered, noting that the number could still grow. The Epoch Times could not independently verify those figures.

Moscow has denied all allegations, saying photographs and videos published by the Ukrainian government alleging “war atrocities” by Russian forces in Bucha is a “staged performance” by Kyiv, claiming no resident of Bucha suffered violence at the hands of Russian troops.

“All the photos and videos published by the Kyiv regime, allegedly testifying to the ‘crimes’ of Russian servicemen in the city of Bucha, Kyiv region, are another provocation,” Igor Konashenkov, the Kremlin’s defense ministry spokesman, said in a statement, AA reported.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell, Slovakia’s Prime Minister Eduard Heger and Ukraine’s Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal stand next to a mass grave as they visit the town of Bucha, outside of Kyiv, Ukraine, on April 8, 2022. (Valentyn Ogirenko/File Photo via Reuters)Spartz, who was born in Nosivka and became the first Ukraine-born U.S. official to serve Congress in November 2020, was invited by the Ukrainian government to tour the devastated city together with Daines.

The Indiana representative had recently sent a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken urging the Biden administration to “redeploy American diplomats to Lviv” and help with coordination in Ukraine.

“We must be engaged to stop this atrocity and bring back peace and order to the European content,” Spartz wrote.

Earlier this week, President Joe Biden said his administration will provide an additional $800 million in military assistance to help bolster Ukraine’s defenses.

At the Dover Air Force Base in Delaware on Thursday, airmen loaded military supplies bound for Ukraine onto the back of trucks as the United States continues to send ammunition, weapons, and other equipment to the besieged country to aid its war effort.

The United States has committed more than $5.4 billion in total assistance to Ukraine, including security and non-security assistance.

From NTD News