20250408: Full Hearing: U.S. Military Posture and National Security Challenges in Europe
2025-04-08
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Source: Congress.gov
Participants
Transcript
Today we continue our posture hearings with you come. I want to thank the witnesses for being here and General Cavoli as this will be your last appearance before this committee. I want to thank you for your incredible service to our nation over a very long time. Thank you, sir. Today we gather with heavy hearts after the loss of four American service members in a tragic training accident in Lithuania. I want to thank our Lithuanian and Polish allies for their sparing no resource to recover the fallen. Now, let me open with something fundamental. Vladimir Putin is not our friend. He is an unreformed KGB agent who believes the collapse of the Soviet Union was, quote, the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century, close quote. His desire to reconstitute the Soviet Union drove him to attack Georgia in 2008, invade Crimea and the Donbas in 2014, and then launch a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Those that blame NATO enlargement or suggest that Russia was somehow provoked into attacking Ukraine are wrong. The Ukrainian people have fought bravely over three years to defend their freedom. But I agree with President Trump, it is time to stop the bloodshed. President Biden never had a plan to end the war. By slow rolling weapon deliveries and imposing loophole ridden sanctions, he allowed the conflict to grind to a stalemate. President Trump has broken that deadlock. Ukraine has agreed to a ceasefire as a first step, showing their desire for peace. Russia, however, has refused to do the same and continues to slaughter innocent victims. Just last week, Russia bombed a playground, killing nine children. Murdering innocent Ukrainian children does not advance peace.
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