With tears in her eyes, the Ukrainian ambassador to the United States, Oksana Markarova, responded with a raised fist to the applause of the American Congress, which, at the request of President Joe Biden, rose as a group on Tuesday (1st) to support Ukraine in the face of Russian invasion.
Sitting to the right of First Lady Jill Biden, Oksana was one of the US president’s guests of honor, who placed the war in Ukraine at the center of his first State of the Union address.
The Democratic leader’s concern was shared by many congressmen. Most attended the traditional speech wearing a yellow and blue ribbon, jacket, or scarf, the colors of the Ukrainian flag.
“The United States is on the side of the Ukrainian people,” Biden said at the beginning of his speech, uniting the House as few times since the beginning of his presidency.
When he asked those present to applaud the Ukrainian ambassador, the entire Congress stood up, waving in his direction the blue and yellow flags that had been distributed minutes earlier.
The US president then threatened to confiscate “yachts, luxury apartments and private jets” from Russian oligarchs and accused President Vladimir Putin of being a “dictator”. At that moment, he received a standing ovation, another rare moment of union in an institution that is increasingly polarized.
Only a small group of lawmakers very loyal to former Republican President Donald Trump, who recently called Putin “smart,” remained seated, reserving their boos for issues close to American borders, such as immigration.
– ‘Talk, talk, talk and do nothing’ –
This does not mean that everyone in Congress agrees with Biden’s anti-Moscow policy. Many conservatives are urging the president to go even further in his response, for example by strengthening US energy independence, even if it means abandoning some climate commitments.
Republican congresswoman Lauren Boebert, for example, wore a shawl emblazoned with the message “Drill Baby Drill,” a slogan in support of continued oil extraction in the United States.
One of the harshest criticisms of Biden, however, came from a Ukrainian-born representative, Republican Victoria Spartz, embraced by many of her colleagues as she entered the House on Tuesday night.
Hours before the Democratic president’s speech, this conservative representative spoke about the plight of her 95-year-old grandmother, trapped under the bombs in Chernigov, northern Ukraine, accusing Biden of “talking, talking, talking” and “doing nothing”. .
“You must act firmly, quickly,” he insisted, barely containing his anger.
Otherwise, Victoria warned, “you will have the blood of millions of Ukrainians on your hands.”
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