Washington, DC
ADMINISTRATOR SAMANTHA POWER: Thank you so much. Thank you. Good afternoon, everybody. It's a somber occasion, to be sure, to mark two years since the full-scale invasion – that is, of course, on the heels of brutal Russian aggression in eastern Ukraine and in Crimea.
But it has been a difficult two years, to be sure, for the Ukrainian people. Whenever an ambassador, or any Ukrainian official, or citizen thanks me, or USAID, or the American people, I always say the same thing which is “no, no, no – thank you.” Thank you for reminding us of the principles that we hold dear. Thank you for sacrificing so much on behalf of the free world, on behalf of freedom, on behalf of the idea that rules do matter, and sovereignty does matter, independence does matter – it’s really going – no matter how long I get to live on this earth, it will go down as the greatest honor of my career to have been a partner to the Ukrainian people in a couple of capacities in my government services.
Obviously, two years ago, when he launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Putin expected Ukrainian forces to wilt, to fall immediately. Many military analysts and observers around the world expected the same thing.
But in a message really to the Ukrainian people, here today, I would just say: you defied the odds. You defied the predictions. You defied Putin.
With the support of more than 50 countries, you have denied Putin – and his way of thinking and his followers – the win that they expected. Not only have you found a way, somehow, to take back half of the lands that Russia seized in those early days, but you have actually found ways to continue to feed the world and to rebuild your economy. And indeed, you have found ways to innovate in ways many democracies cannot innovate in even in peacetime.
What Ukraine has done over these last two years is breathtaking. Frankly, it's staggering. In terms of, again, the show of will, again, not only to defy Russian military aggression, but the show of will to continue to grow your democracy, the rule of law, and your economy. You all must be exhausted, truly exhausted. The cumulative toll that it takes to be living under such constant pressure and stress. And I will say that I know that the uncertainty around the continued flow of U.S. assistance can only be amplifying that anxiety for the Ukrainian people.
I know how many Ukrainian friends and colleagues I have who are following the ins and outs and the ups and downs in every statement by elected officials and administration officials alike, to try to predict how things are going to unfold. And I'll come back to that – I'm sure we'll discuss it in the question period as well – but to be clear, Putin's whole strategy has from the very beginning hinged on Ukrainian resolve and international resolve breaking. And as President Biden has said, we have proven him wrong, and we must continue to prove him wrong. And so that is why we are working day and night to convince Congress to pass the National Security Supplemental and to get more support to Ukrainians.
USAID from the beginning of the conflict, of course, has dealt with the humanitarian emergency – we have reached more than 16 million Ukrainians with, you know what is life-saving or at least life-changing humanitarian assistance for the displaced, for the hungry, for those who need psychosocial care. But we're not only doing that kind of work, as the Ambassador indicated, we're not only helping displaced persons, not only helping people on the front lines, but we are working with Ukrainians following your lead as to how to build your long-term strength and your self-reliance.
We have worked with private sector partners to get farmers the seeds and fertilizers, the grain storage facilities, and the safe export routes working as well – of course with the European Union – that all of those in the agricultural sector need to power Ukraine's economy and to feed the world. And we see the effects of getting more Ukrainian grains to market. In the countries where we work, in some of the most difficult circumstances – in sub-Saharan Africa, where there's been drought, where there's been flooding, where there's been conflict and the different kind, and Ukrainian wheat, Ukraine being the breadbasket of the world, and being able somehow to get all of that back online has made a profound difference in some of the most vulnerable communities in Africa and beyond.
USAID has supported tens of thousands of small and medium-sized enterprises to withstand Russia’s bombardments, but also to find access to startup capital to be able to grow their businesses even as the bombs continue to fall. We have, again following Ukraine's lead, helped make energy infrastructure resilient to attacks to keep the lights on and the heat running through the winter. And I think we can all see light at the end of the tunnel this winter again, no pun intended, as again, Putin’s attempts to weaponize winter, to weaponize the cold, are going to fail.
We have invested in anti-corruption tools like transparent public procurement processes and whistleblowing platforms, helping Ukraine climb 12 places in Transparency International's corruption index in a single year. And this is one of the best results anywhere in the world. And again, that progress is being made, while the bombardment and the attacks are unrelenting – it's extraordinary. We have supported the government as it has developed further the Diia application. The Ministry of Digital Transformation, turning Ukraine into a global leader on e-governance. Again, innovations being made during wartime, nothing short of remarkable. The economic results, the fact that this playbook is working, speak for themselves. The economy not only stopped its freefall from the invasion, but grew more than five percent. Last year, foreign investment has returned with $2.5 billion in foreign direct investment entering the country in the first half of 2023 alone.
Grain exports, again, remarkably returning to pre-war levels, and overall exports projected to grow 15 percent this year and 30 percent next year. We have to continue this progress. As the Ambassador said what we are doing together, what you are doing, Ukrainian people are doing, is working. And this administration, the Biden Administration, all of us who are privileged to be part of it, or privileged to be your partners, are not going to stop our advocacy until we gain access to the resources we need to support you.
As we mark this again, very, very somber day, I want to stress that until the war is won, we are going to maintain our commitment to supporting Ukraine's independence, its economy, and its democracy.
Thank you. And I'm really happy to answer your questions. And I would note that having these kinds of exchanges with journalists is one of the many things that this war is about because of free exchange, question and answer, challenging public officials. These are precisely the kinds of developments in Ukraine's trajectory and its democracy that Putin sought to shut down, of course, does not allow within his own borders.
QUESTION: All my audience in Ukraine, my friends, my family, my colleagues, and everyone is really concerned about this delay with American aid. So what's your vision? Especially given the use of statements that without a package from Congress, even humanitarian aid will have to cease.
ADMINISTRATOR POWER: Thank you. Well, first of all, let me say that we know that every day of delay is painful not only because of the stress and anxiety it creates, but delays carry consequences. The inability to deliver – outside of USAID’s lane, but the inability to deliver additional packages of security assistance – have real-world consequences on the frontlines. And so, I would just echo President Biden's appeal, appeals to Congress to move the package that passed with overwhelming bipartisan support through the Senate, to move that package through the House and provide the resources that are needed to the range of U.S. government agencies that are supporting Ukraine.
I'd like to come back to the Senate package because I think in it, you see something that may be lost a little bit on the Ukrainian street, which is the extent to which the Ukrainian cause still galvanizes two years into the war – even in a very difficult budget environment here in Washington – still galvanizes widespread bipartisan support, that the Ukrainian people still inspire Republicans and Democrats alike, communities across the United States. You know, we are a divided country, we are a polarized country – there are certainly very loud voices, very influential voices, who are urging us to dial back our assistance to Ukraine. But not only did the President's own party, you know, come forward in huge numbers to support this very, very significant and multi-dimensional package, but so too, did 22 Republican senators. And to get to, Ukrainians might think, seem, well that seems so small compared to, to all that we are giving and all that we are investing and the numbers are lower than in previous supplemental votes. But again, this is why I underscore the context here in the United States. Bipartisanship is just sadly, increasingly rare. And Ukraine is one of the few issues on which Republicans and Democrats have come together and united in this way.
And we know, and the Ambassador and I were just talking about it before coming in, we know that there are huge bipartisan – there's a huge bipartisan majority as well, for this Senate bill to move forward in the House of Representatives. What we need, of course, is a procedural path for that to happen. And for Speaker Johnson to put that bill on the floor and allow individuals who are pained by what they see happening on Ukraine, are pained by the United States being taken, you know, to the sidelines, when so many Americans want to maintain the support, and the polling still shows this. And so it is just extremely important when the House of Representatives comes back to town, that this package that comes to the House with very substantial bipartisan support, that it moves forward.
And with regard to questions of humanitarian assistance, and what USAID does, the direct budget support that helps keep the lights on, I just want to underscore whatever Ukrainian knows – but what may sometimes get overshadowed in the United States with all of the understandable emphasis on security assistance – but if somehow direct budget support for the Ukrainian government, for teachers, for first responders, for medical professionals for hospital services, if that money were to dry up, that's extremely dangerous, if the money that we are investing in Ukrainian farmers, which has now allowed Ukrainian farmers to get back to feeding the world, which is what they have done for generations, if that money were to dry up, first of all, we'd be giving up on a winning proposition, because again, exports are increasing, agricultural exports up to their pre-war numbers. But also it will drive food prices up globally. And it will have costs that ripple well beyond Ukraine.
So again, the appeal by President Biden is, yes, to support security assistance that are in this package. But the bipartisan support is not only for security assistance – it’s for humanitarian assistance, it’s for support for anti-corruption institutions, for independent media to continue to do their work, for the agricultural sector, for SMEs, and for this vital direct budget support. We are grateful to the European Union for moving forward. We think that's a very important measure to have occurred while we work out the procedural path ahead. But the United States needs to be in a leadership role, the kind of leadership role that we've been incredibly privileged to be in since the full-scale invasion began and well before.
QUESTION: I'd love to ask you, what's your vision of, what are we asking from the United States on this stage after two years of the aggression of the full-scale invasion? Is it more about the way to NATO on Washington Summit? Is it more about the security guarantee? Is it more about President Zelensky’s peace process? So on your vision about the strategy beyond the tactics?
AMBASSADOR OKSANA MARKAROVA: Thank you. It's one of the questions – the right answer to which is all of the above, like in the multiple choice question. So right now, there is an urgent need now to continue the assistance. So we're working, of course, with Congress, but also with administration, because this work with Congress requires a lot of questions and answers, providing information, everything else, to have the continued support, which will allow to provide us with money, weapons, humanitarian assistance, and everything else.
The second part of that, is unstoppable work with regard to sanctions and isolation. So there is ongoing work with Treasury, Commerce, State Department, and all other institutions on the packages of sanctions like the one, historic – the largest one – which was announced today. But that's a daily work, essentially, going target after target collecting information, providing the data providing photographs from the battlefield, providing the parts of the equipment – so it's a constant work, which never stopped before, we'll never stop because we need to be able to tighten the sanctions. And today, again, I just want to say how grateful we are for sanctions and finally, the payment system – Mir – Russian payment system, but also nine financial institutions. We are grateful, and we will not stop there. And we still believe that the sectoral sanctions on all financial institutions in Russia should be implemented.
Now on top of that, of course, we are working on the bilateral security arrangement, those which already have been signed between Ukraine and Great Britain, France, Germany – there is a separate track, the embassy is helping as much as possible for the team in Ukraine, team here who are discussing this document. Now, that document, of course, is quite of a broader discussion about the peaceful formula, and about the ten steps, and the U.S. has been taken very active part in it, not only the U.S., the Organization of American States, where I represent Ukraine also as an institution, and gathering of more than thirty countries and taken an active part there. So that is a very important parallel work, because again, battlefield successes together with sanctions, but we're working on the diplomatic paths, some centers will be ready and supported now. More than eighty countries participate in these discussions, hopefully, the number will grow. So at the time when we finally will deny Russia, to help this world when we will liberate more when whatever can happen in Russia – I didn't want to even touch that – but they raised a very viable UN Charter-based path on how to get to the just peace.
Now in addition to that, there is very big work on co-production. Yes, we are very grateful for their support from the U.S., but we want to be self-sustainable. So whether it's weapons, and there is big portion of work, which was started by President Zelensky and President Biden during the meeting in September, then actually tightened already during the meeting in December, between those two meetings of the leaders, we had two forums conducted by the industry in Kiev and here in Washington DC, from both Ukraine, and we already are producing or co-producing some of the elements, the frankincense, the name, but, you know, we're trying to marry their equipment that we have with Western technology so that we can actually, hopefully in the future produce and co-produce more in Ukraine.
Business resilience, something that we worked with USAID and that's, I think, where USAID took very proactive steps beyond just working with [the] corporate sector. So for example, just a while ago, together with USAID, we announced that NASDAQ, as one of the leading platforms, is going to do the necessary steps, not only they signed the agreement with Ukraine, on building the capacity or building the market and getting Ukrainian companies into the market, but they already submitted and started the process, which will allow them to waive the fees, so that all Ukrainian companies that would like to go public and raise capital on NASDAQ, either here or in any of the exchanges in anywhere in Europe, can do it literally without paying the fees. And we can go on and on and on. So frankly, you know, we're working on all of those areas. And all of those are equally important. Sometimes more efforts will be spent on supplementary budget, because this is what we need to do now. Without that, a lot of other areas are more difficult. But it's all of the above.
QUESTION: Mrs. Administrator I'd like to ask a question, which goes in the same line as my colleagues. But I want to go into more details. We know that you have a lot of projects in Ukraine. And are they, any of them, are jeopardized by the inability of the Congress to adopt the Ukrainian supplementary politics, and how are you going to have to cut back them? And when is it going to happen?
ADMINISTRATOR POWER: I would say all of our programming is jeopardized. We have already made certain investments that will continue to pay dividends for a long time to come, you know, when you harmonize the rail system, you know, into Europe or when we work with European Union and our Ukrainian colleagues and Minister [Oleksandr] Kubrakov and others, you know, to expand river, you know, loading docks and capability or to build grain storage capability. You know, these are infrastructure investments that are going to last and are going to be of enduring benefit. Some of the seeds that we have distributed already this year to farmers, you know, many of those have not been planted yet. The fertilizers, you know. So I want to be clear that we have always kept an eye on the sustainability of the impact of the work that we do.
But we want to be in a position – we know, Ukraine, in January now is up to six million metric tons in agricultural exports. It's again, breathtaking when you consider what Putin did, and just the willfulness in which he tried to destroy not only the economy, but the agricultural sector. But, you know, there are many parts of the world that are hungry. There are many Ukrainian farmers who have been willing to brave unexploded ordinance or to rebuild their farm or their small business in the wake of destruction. We want to make sure that they continue to have access to low-interest loans, you know, to inputs. And that's not, again, just in Ukraine's interest. That is in the United States' interest because, over time, it will mean less direct budget support and more tax revenue. And it's in the United States’ interest because less humanitarian aid is going to be needed in really vulnerable countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.
But yes, our agricultural programs, we have, again, supported them through where we are now. But you know, we've managed to impact about 32 percent of Ukraine's farmers, but there are many other farmers who would like to be growing their businesses. Or you know, perhaps are worried about how they're going to make ends meet, because maybe some missile just landed, you know, on a grain silo that they have counted on. So taking the United States off the field, when together we have managed to secure such impact, would be a grave, grave mistake.
With regard to humanitarian assistance, which is of a different kind. There, what I most worry about is – with less humanitarian assistance, that means we're going to reach fewer Ukrainians. That means, you know, if it is women who've been subjected to sexual assault by invading Russian troops, we want to be in a position with other donors to support Ukrainian hotlines, Ukrainian therapists, Ukrainian medical professionals, who – the least we can do is open up our hearts and professional services to people who have suffered as they've suffered. Same with people who are coming off the frontlines, and who have post-traumatic stress disorder or ongoing, you know, ongoing circumstances in which PTSD has been incurred by huge swathes of the population given the relentless bombing. It's an investment in Ukraine's stability, its independence, its prosperity, its future, to be able – working with Madam [Olena] Zelenska– to support that kind of work. These are the kinds of things we're going to have to scale, way back.
But when you're displaced from your home and you've lost everything, you need to be able to turn to people. There's not one Ukrainian I've ever met in any of my travels who wants humanitarian assistance – they hate it. Who would, who among us would want humanitarian assistance? But they need it, just to get through this period. And then they need all of us, together, to come together to help them restart their lives. But for now, it's still an emergency situation. So for me, the thought of having to cut back emergency humanitarian assistance for people who were minding their own business in their homes, never picked a fight with Putin, never provoked anybody, and were subjected to ruthless bombardment, have their cities overrun, their loved ones' lives taken, the idea that we would not be in a position to support them in their hour of greatest need, is a dark idea indeed. But the good news, again, is that there are big majorities in both houses of Congress, one of which has proven this, the other which has yet to act on the consensus, but big bipartisan majorities who agree with everything I've said, and who do not want to pull the plug on programs that are doing so much good and that are so vitally needed.
QUESTION: I'd like to ask you, with Putin’s strategy – as for analysts and representatives of the Administration prepares to outlast Ukraine and outlast the West. Do you see any indication that he may be successful?
AMBASSADOR MARKAROVA: I sure hope not. And that's why we are working day and night with our partners here and the same diplomatic team does everywhere in the world. And that's why we see still more than fifty countries coming together for our Ukraine defense Contact Group, which we call the Rammstein group, every month, and Secretary Austin personal participation regardless of times and situation, never changed.
You know, Putin is very clear about having the same intent to not only destroy us but to take anyone who's free and democratic. He is very clear and not hiding anymore, working together with Hamas, inviting them to Moscow working together with Iran, buying the supplies from Iran, given them what we can only you know, think what it is they are cooperating on, the North Korea – so clear this new axis of evil this club or dictators and the ruthless regimes are working together. And yes, you know, the so-called elections, we know how they will end in Russia. They can plan not for one election cycle but for as long as they will hold the powers.
Now this is a litmus test for democracies. Whether we, together, regardless of our democratic cycles, regardless of actually preserving our democratic cycles, fighting for them – this is what Ukrainians are defending in Ukraine – but throughout the changes the political and democratic changes, can we stay, keep the focus on what is important for all of us, regardless of parties and nationalities and countries? Can we stay together, united in defense of our democratic values? And I think the answer to that is yes. And I know sometimes we're very, it's very upsetting to see the delays. It's very upsetting to see some of the discussions, but this is the nature of the democratic process. And yet after very difficult discussion, the European Union and you know, how difficult it is in Europe to adopt unanimously decisions, adopted the annual decision. And after difficult discussions here, and you know, that in the United States, the discussions in both Senate and House primarily were not about Ukraine, they about some other issues, which are very important. Now, we're in election year, which again, we knew it's going to be a very difficult and challenging year.
But you know, through all these discussions, the bipartisan support is there, and I'm positive, I'm positive that you asked, which is built on the same values that we are defending in Ukraine, will be able to help us, will be able to continue the support. Because again, it's well beyond Ukraine, we have to do it not only to help Ukraine, we have to do it to save our way of living, which is the same for us, for Americans, for UK, European Union, for Japan, for so many normal people, after all, 141 countries. And I remember, because we wish that voted together with Samantha, in your office – 141 and 143 on different occasions, countries at the UN condemned it, condemned this aggression. And we just have to, you know, move forward and not only condemn it but stop it. So it's difficult, it will take probably more work and efforts and energy. But I'm a big believer in democracy. And, you know, I think, you know, we can count on our friends in the United States.
QUESTION: Madam Administrator, you said that the U.S. Administration is working with Speaker Johnson and House Republicans to convince them to pass the supplemental. Do you see any signs that they are changing their minds after your arguments after this events – this after reporting? About 400 missiles from Iran to Russia, after Mr. Navalny's death? So do you see any changes in their mind? And what is, how do you see the real possibilities to convince the House to approve the bill?
ADMINISTRATOR POWER: Well, let me build on Oksana’s comments, and just say that – what are we now – third week in February? I mean, six weeks ago, many, many people were anticipating that the Senate would not be able to move forward with this package. Indeed, there were many obituaries written for the national – what is now called the national security supplemental. What is needed now is a procedural path forward. You know, that is a challenge, as Oksana and I both acknowledged, and as you the Ukrainian people know, because otherwise the money would already, the legislation would already have been passed, and the money would already be flowing back into the kinds of invaluable programs, including into security assistance.
But that's a very different challenge than the challenge of finding the votes to pass the legislation. So, you know, the truth is, in terms of the procedural way ahead, you know, that is something that, you know, fundamentally members of the House of Representatives are going to have to come together to determine, you know, I'm sure, Ukrainians are tracking all the different ways that the legislation could be brought to a vote. And I've had many conversations even in the last twenty-four hours with Members on that, you know, even I've been talking to Members of Congress who are, you know, on because the House is out of session and on recess this week, they're, you know, in counties very, very far away, and still, you know, they're calling and they're trying to figure out how to hustle up a way to make this legislation move forward.
The other thing I would say is that you know, and I credit, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and I credit Ranking Member Mitch McConnell, Senate Minority Leader, because the way this package has come together, it offers not only the support that we know is vital for Ukraine, but it offers support, that means an awful lot to different constituencies in different coalitions. And you know, that also could have gone very differently in recent months.
It could have been that, you know, the Middle East resources were separated out from Ukraine resources, or those for the Indo-Pacific were separated out, it could be that the security assistance was separated out from the civilian assistance, and I will say, some members of the House of Representatives have come forward with a security-only package. And we just want, again, at every turn to underscore that the economic survival and self-sufficiency of Ukraine is absolutely vital, the humanitarian assistance is absolutely vital to keeping people alive and maintaining morale as well as soldiers go and risk everything for not only their freedom and their country's freedom, Ukraine’s freedom, and also for all of our freedom.
So I offer that perspective, again, on the precise modalities as to how it will move forward. I'm not sure, but I think we all believe that when Members are back in Washington, which they will be starting this weekend, that the events that you have mentioned, the killing of Alexei Navalny, the weapons shipments from countries that every Member of Congress is on record as standing in opposition to countries like Iran and North Korea, that these are, you know, compounding factors that should create the kind of urgency that is long overdue for this package to move forward.
QUESTION: Another question for Madam Ambassador. I want to ask you about your expectation and your intention, I mean, in primary work with the U.S. government on sanctions, after the U.S. announced new sanctions today, the NSC coordinator, John Kirby said there is more U.S. sanctions coming up. So last year, you talked about huge capacity for sanctioning hundreds of Russian banks. And just a small part of Russian banks are on the sanctions now. How do you see this capacity right now after the last package on the sanctions? And how are you going to work with the U.S. Administration on the next restrictions?
AMBASSADOR MARKAROVA: We will continue working as actively as we did in the past. And again, I'm very grateful to everyone who worked on this package, it is unprecedented. It's more than 500 targets. It's very comprehensive, it not only covers a lot of their Russian defense production, which is very important – the largest part of this package is against those involved in producing, sourcing, and doing everything for the Russian criminal defense production. But also, you know, again, let me draw attention again that today 246 banks, which have been on the full working sanction list before, not only nine banks were added some investment funds and others, but also the payment system, Mir payment system, which is very important, you know.
Now, this is not where we will stop. And we will work and provide all the information and continue discussing and convincing our American friends that actually we have to target all Russian financial system and all banking system to sanction all 326 or how many of them are left banks, because it's essential not only to stop their possibility to conduct this war, to serve as their troops in Ukraine and in Russia, to buy what they're buying, to evade sanctions or the sanctions. So it's a very important area where we will keep working and again as today's package shows, this work, generates results.
Now, there are other areas in energy sanctions, tightening the restrictions with regard to the price cap, especially a lot is done by not only the Treasury or Congress, but also DOJ. On fighting with those who are helping to evade sanctions. Just yesterday, there were a number of announcements of criminal prosecution of those in the United States, Ukrainian, Russians, other nationalities, also some Europeans - it goes without saying that the degree which President Biden put in force in last December, which is a very important tool, which actually sent a very clear message to everyone, and empower the Administration here to go after anyone who helps evade sanctions, and helps Russians to go around it and buy and procure everything.
So this is a very important priority of our work. We believe it's almost as important as weapons and financial support, because while weapons and financial support allows us to defend ourselves and fight on the battlefield, the sanction work, which sometimes is not visible, but actually it can seriously cripple Russia's ability to produce weapons, to buy weapons, to finance their troops, to recruit more people. Because as you know, unlike Ukrainians who are fighting for our homes, Russians are not motivated, they do not understand what they are fighting for. So it's either their, their forceful mobilization, or their pain, and that's what they resorted to.
So it's very important to continue working on it. We're very glad with today's package. It's [an] excellent package. And right after it was announced, we continue working on the next package. Hopefully, it will be soon. Thank you.