Heeding Bipartisan Calls Co-Led by Shaheen, Biden Appoints Ukraine Security Assistance Coordinator

(Washington, DC) – Today, U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) – a senior member of the Senate Armed Services and Foreign Relations Committees – issued the following statement on President Biden’s appointment of retired U.S. Army Lieutenant General Terry Wolff to serve as the Ukraine Security Assistance Coordinator, following bipartisan calls led by Shaheen and Senators Rob Portman (R-OH), Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Roger Wicker (R-MS) to designate a senior official to fill such a role. Earlier this month, the Senators sent a letter to the President, encouraging him to appoint a Ukraine Security Assistance Coordinator to help synchronize efforts within the U.S. government and to improve response time in sending aid to Europe amid Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

“Streamlined logistics and swift delivery of weapons are critical in war, which is why appointing a Ukraine Security Assistance Coordinator is fundamental to our ongoing effort to supply Ukraine with the military assistance it needs to hold off Putin’s forces. Every moment matters for the Ukrainian armed forces, so I appreciate the President’s attention to my bipartisan call with Senators Portman, Durbin and Wicker to designate this urgently needed position. Furthermore, I am encouraged by the message this designation sends regarding U.S. leadership to organize security assistance efforts with respect to our NATO allies, who continue to provide vast amounts of security assistance to Ukraine. Supplying military assistance to Ukraine has been and must remain a national security priority, so ensuring clear communication and swift delivery is fundamental to that mission,” said Shaheen.

“I’m pleased that the White House has listened to bipartisan calls and is appointing a Ukraine Security Assistance Coordinator to help us expedite military assistance to Ukraine. While Ukraine has taken important steps to regain control of their country, the fight is not over – Russia’s renewed offensive continues to represent an existential threat to Ukraine’s sovereignty and independence, and it is essential the U.S. is able to move quickly to cut the red tape, synchronize our efforts across the interagency, and provide Ukraine with the tools necessary to win this war,” said Portman. “Together with Senators Shaheen, Wicker, and Durbin, I called on the Biden administration to bring on a Coordinator to do just this and I am glad that the administration has headed that call. As the U.S. continues to send a historic amount of assistance to our ally Ukraine, we’ve seen the importance of doing so in a swift and decisive manner and this move today with allow us to do just that.”

Shaheen has led action in the U.S. Senate in support of Ukraine in response to Vladimir Putin’s belligerence, which also threatens the stability and security of Eastern Europe and NATO allies. Bipartisan legislation co-led by Shaheen to speed up military assistance to Ukraine and Eastern European nations recently cleared the Senate. Last month, Shaheen and members of the Senate Ukraine Caucus met with Ukrainian Ambassador to the United States, Oksana Markarova, and members of the Ukrainian Parliament. In February, Shaheen led a successful bipartisan effort with Portman to pass a resolution that conveys a renewed and overwhelmingly bipartisan message from the U.S. Senate in fierce support of Ukraine. Earlier this year, Shaheen and Portman led a bipartisan delegation to Ukraine, where they met with President Zelenskyy and members of his administration. As a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, she supported the inclusion of $13.6 billion in security assistance that was part of government funding legislation signed into law by President Biden.

Senator Shaheen has long led efforts in the Senate to hold Russia accountable for its malign activity against the U.S. and its allies. Because of her role as a negotiator on Russia sanctions legislation known as “CAATSA” and her successful efforts to ban Kaspersky Lab software from operating on U.S. systems, Shaheen was sanctioned by the Kremlin in 2017. Before the Shaheen-Portman congressional delegation visit to Ukraine in January, Shaheen led a bipartisan group of lawmakers to Eastern Europe, including Ukraine, last June.