Despite the vast challenges and brutal violence facing the people of Ukraine, Senator Bob Menendez says he doesn’t believe the situation is hopeless.
“I don’t come to that conclusion, although they are facing what could be considered overwhelming odds,” Menendez told CNN’s Jake Tapper.
“When we freeze Russia’s reserves abroad and [Putin] can not get access to it … he doesn’t have the money to fuel a lot of this in the longer term,” said Menendez, adding, “so I still believe that the Ukrainian people have a real chance here, but it is undoubtedly a very difficult one.”
Meanwhile, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continues. Menendez noted that “Russia has a 40-mile caravan of critical equipment that it logistically [does] not seem to be able to deal with.” As such, says Menendez, “they have turned to the indiscriminate bombing that we have seen in the last few days and that is condemnable.”
The bombing of civilian buildings and hospitals, says Menendez, “[amounts] to war crimes.”
The Democratic from New Jersey is part of a group of bipartisan senators asking for temporary protected status (TPS) for Ukrainians in the US.
Continuing his live conversation with Tapper, Menendez explained why such a cause is so important.
“You can’t take Ukrainians who legally enter the United States and happen to be here, to then send them back to a war zone. You can’t tell Europe and our allies … that are doing the right thing by accepting hundreds of thousands of refugees, and then [have them] send back people from Ukraine back to Ukraine,” Menendez said, concluding that he “would expect the administration to ultimately grant TPS. I don’t see how they do not.”
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