Sec. 6235. Sense of Senate on admission of Ukraine to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization Enhanced Opportunities Partnership Program
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Section 1235 shall have no force or effect. Congress makes the following findings: On August 24, 1991, Ukraine became a free and independent country after declaring its independence from the Soviet Union. The Russian Federation is required to respect the independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity of Ukraine through its signed commitments to the 1994 Budapest Memorandum, the 1975 Helsinki Accords, and the Charter of the United Nations. On February 8, 1994, Ukraine was among the first post-Soviet states to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's Partnership for Peace, and Ukraine subsequently participated in numerous North Atlantic Treaty Organization-led security assistance, peacekeeping, counterterror, and maritime initiatives.
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization and Ukraine have continuously deepened their cooperation through the establishment of— the North Atlantic Treaty Organization-Ukraine Charter on a Distinctive Partnership and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization-Ukraine Commission in 1997; the North Atlantic Treaty Organization-Ukraine Joint Working Group on Defense Reform in 1998; and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization-Ukraine Action Plan in 2002. In the Bucharest Summit Declaration of April 2008, heads of state and governments of North Atlantic Treaty Organization member countries declared, NATO welcomes Ukraine’s and Georgia’s Euro-Atlantic aspirations for membership in NATO.
We agreed today that these countries will become members of NATO. . Beginning on November 21, 2013, and ending on February 22, 2014, during a period that became known as the Revolution of Dignity, the people of Ukraine peacefully protested the decision of then President Viktor Yanukovych to suspend the signing of the Ukraine-European Union Association Agreement, resulting in the unanimous removal from office of Yanukovych by the Verkhovna Rada. On May 25, 2014, Peter Poroshenko was elected democratically to become the President of Ukraine based on a pro-European Union and pro-North Atlantic Treaty Organization platform, which laid the foundation for progress on the European Union Association Agreement.
In response to Ukraine’s Revolution of Dignity, the Russian Federation launched an overt and covert military campaign against Ukraine, illegally occupied Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula, and instigated war in eastern Ukraine, resulting in the deaths of approximately 14,000 Ukrainians. The Russian Federation’s invasion and illegal occupation of the Crimean Peninsula and instigation of conflict in eastern Ukraine in 2014 was widely viewed as an effort to stifle pro-democracy and pro-Western developments across Ukraine in the wake of the Revolution of Dignity.
At the 2014 Wales Summit, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization adopted the Enhanced Opportunities Partnership Program as a component of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization Partnership Interoperability Initiative, which would encourage, facilitate, and sustain Ukraine’s contributions to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. In 2016, as a result of the Warsaw Summit, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization pledged additional training and technical support for the military forces of Ukraine and endorsed a comprehensive assistance package that included tailored capability and capacity building measures … to enhance Ukraine’s resilience against a wide array of threats, including hybrid threats .
In 2017, in the face of continued Russian Federation aggression in the eastern region of Ukraine and the continued occupation of Crimea, the Government of Ukraine rejected cooperation with the Russian Federation and voted to make cooperation with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization a foreign policy priority. On September 1, 2017, the Ukraine-European Union Association Agreement entered into force. On April 21, 2019, the new president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy— reaffirmed to European Union and North Atlantic Treaty Organization leaders that Ukraine’s strategic course was to achieve full membership in the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization; and championed the adoption of an amendment to the Constitution of Ukraine declaring that the Government of Ukraine is responsible for implementing such strategic course toward membership in the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
In January 2020, the Government of Ukraine requested that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization grant Ukraine the status of an Enhanced Opportunities Partner. Since Ukraine’s Revolution of Dignity and in recognition of the United States-Ukraine strategic partnership, the United States has— provided Ukraine with more than $1,600,000,000 in security assistance, including critical defense items; collaborated closely with the military forces of Ukraine; and imposed strong sanctions on the Russian Federation in response to continued Russian Federation aggression in Ukraine.
On June 12, 2020, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization welcomed Ukraine into the Enhanced Opportunities Partnership program, joining Australia, Finland, Sweden, Georgia, and Jordan. It is the sense of the Senate that the Senate— applauds the progress of Ukraine and the Revolution of Dignity with respect to strengthening the rule of law and combating corruption, aligning with Euro-Atlantic norms and standards, and improving Ukraine's military combat readiness and interoperability with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization; affirms the unwavering commitment of the United States to— supporting the continued efforts of Ukraine to implement democratic and free market reforms; restoring the territorial integrity of Ukraine; and providing additional lethal and nonlethal security assistance to strengthen the defense capabilities of Ukraine and to deter further Russian Federation aggression; condemns the Russian Federation’s ongoing use of force and other malign activities against Ukraine and renews its call on the Government of the Russian Federation to immediately cease all activities that seek to undermine Ukraine and destabilize Europe; and congratulates Ukraine on its inclusion in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization Enhanced Opportunities Partnership program and on the establishment of a roadmap to full NATO accession for Ukraine.