Сенатор Лэнкфорд сравнил борьбу Украины за независимость с войнами США за сохранение свободы

Senator James Lankford (R-OK), a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee and a strong supporter of Ukraine, recently spent a couple of days in Kyiv, where he and his Democratic colleague Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) met with President Volodymyr Zelensky and participated in the country’s annual National Prayer Breakfast. The two senators have consistently advocated in Congress on behalf of Ukraine, pushing for continued financial and/or weapons support since Russian President Vladimir Putin launched an unprovoked invasion of its western neighbor four and a half years ago. President Zelensky is currently pushing for access to U.S. interceptors, as Russia ramps up missile attacks on civilian infrastructure, and House passage of the Senate’s just-passed Russia sanctions bill. Sen. Lankford posted a video on his X account, in which he discusses the trip and makes an interesting comparison to Revolutionary America and present-day Ukraine: LANKFORD: “Senator James Lankford here. I happen to be talking to you from a train in Ukraine actually right now. I’ve spent the last couple of days in Kyiv, Ukraine. I was the invited keynote speaker for the National Prayer Breakfast here in Ukraine. It’s something new for them to be able to gather the nation, to be able to pray, obviously, for an end to the war and for peace, but also the future of the country. So, I had the opportunity to be able to speak there at the National Prayer Breakfast, sit down one-on-one with President Zelensky, to be able to talk a little bit about what their plan is, what they’re doing. I met with the Prime Minister of Ukraine and some of the leadership of Ukraine. I got a chance to be able to hear their strategy, their plan, what they’re doing. Obviously, there’s been, for several years now, American dollars that are coming in from American companies and others that are providing weapons systems here in Ukraine. There’s been advice from some of our military, individuals, and we still have a State Department presence here. We met with the embassy staff and had a good conversation about what they’re doing to be able to help work towards a long-lasting peace here in Ukraine. “This war actually does affect us in Oklahoma. For instance, our fertilizer prices are much higher because Ukraine used to provide a lot of the fertilizer for much of the world in the West. Now that’s not happening, obviously, and so it’s driven up the global cost of fertilizer. Pig iron and so many other areas—sunflowers. There’s a lot that’s come out of Ukraine for a long time that affects us economically. But it has also been a partner and an ally for decades, and decades ago, Ukraine fought for its independence in 1991, 35 years ago — in fact, it was Ukraine’s Independence Day, one of the days I was here. 35 years ago, they fought and won their independence from Russia, and now Russia is attacking them again, trying to take over Ukraine again. And they’re once again fighting for their independence. Strange as it may seem, when America was born — 1776 to about 1782 or so — we won our independence. And then 30 years later, we fought the British again in the War of 1812 to make sure we maintained our independence. Very similar to what Ukraine is still doing right now. “So these are our allies and friends that we’ve been alongside them for the birth of their country in 1991 on. But it’s also important that we maintain freedom in this area and prevent Putin from continuing to be able to push into Europe and continue to be able to attack other allies. So, we’re not in this war, but we’re obviously affected by this war, and it is important for us to be able to stand with our allies as they fight for their own freedom and for their own country in the days ahead. “So, it’s been my honor to be their invited guest here for a couple of days. I’m looking forward to getting back to Oklahoma and the United States. And it will once again remind me of how precious our freedom really is, how important it is to be able to maintain that, and what an honor it is to be able to represent the United States in places like this around the world. I pray I can carry Oklahoma values into this place as well, as they continue to be able to work towards their freedom. “One other fun story. They just started a brand new think-tank. That’s not been a thing for Ukrainians to have something like a think-tank. We have multiple of them around, but a conservative, pro-family think-tank was organized, and, while I was here, they asked me to be able to speak and to be able to talk about the importance of family values and conservative values and, quite frankly, my biblical values and what that means in a country and to a people. This is a group of people that are organizing, trying to be able to think long-term for Ukraine’s future. What will that be like once we finally won the peace? Who will we be as a nation? And there’s a group of pro-family, pro-life, freedom-loving, conservative Ukrainians that are here, that are gathering to say, let’s start thinking now about what we can do to be able to make sure that we protect the basic values of who we are as Ukrainians and free people. “So, I encourage you to be able to pray for the people of Ukraine. It’s been a very long four years for them, and they have a long way to go to be able to stop fighting, to be able to win their peace. But they are looking forward to days of freedom and liberty, like what we enjoy every day in the United States.”