WASHINGTON (WSIL) -- U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D, IL), U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R, SC) and other lawmakers met with Ukraine's Prosecutor General.
U.S. Lawmakers say they received an update on the war in Ukraine and reported crimes against humanity.Ìý
The Senate Judiciary Committee is set to hold a hearing Wednesday entitled, “Holding Russian Kleptocrats and Human Rights Violators Accountable for their Crimes Against Ukraine.� The hearing will feature testimony from Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco.
Durbin and Graham were also joined by Senators Alex Padilla (D-CA),ÌýRichard Blumenthal (D-CT),Ìýand Amy Klobuchar (D-MN).
“Perpetrators committing unspeakable war crimes, such as those unfolding before our very eyes in Ukraine, must be held to account,â€Ìýsays Durbin.Ìý“Today’s meeting reaffirmed the importance of holding Vladimir Putin and his cowardly enablers accountable for well documented war crimes committed in Ukraine.Ìý Tomorrow, the Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing to shed a light on these atrocities and the need for accountability.â€�
“Now is the time to stand by Ukraine, not just on the battlefield but also in the courtroom,â€�Ìýsaid Graham.Ìý“We look forward to assisting Ukrainian Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin in every way possible to hold Putin’s Russia accountable for war crimes being committed in Ukraine on an industrial scale.
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“This is a defining moment for European stability and world values. There can be no forgiving and forgetting when it comes to the war crimes being committed by Putin in Ukraine, for if we go down that path, we will legitimize the darkest instincts of man.�
Senator Durbin, Senator Graham and Senator Chuck Grassley (R, IA) introduced the Justice for Victims of War Crimes Act shortly after Russia's invasion and the act was signed into law in 2022. It was designed to enable theÌý prosecution of war criminals in the United States regardless of the nationality of the perpetrator or victim.
Durbin and Graham also recently led a bipartisanÌýÌýto President Biden urging his Administration to support the ICCÌýinvestigation into the atrocities committed in Ukraine by implementing bipartisan legislation enacted in the last Congress.Ìý
