- Ukrainian-American Rep. Victoria Spartz pleaded for the US to do more to stop Russia's war.
- Spartz told reporters that she still has family and friends in the country.
- She vowed that Putin would stop his aggression with his large-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Republican Rep. Victoria Spartz, who was born in Ukraine, made an emotional plea on Tuesday for stronger US action in defense of Ukraine and warned that Russian President Vladimir Putin has sights set on more than just taking Kyiv.
"This is not a war, this is a genocide of the Ukrainian people by a crazy man who cannot get over the Ukrainian people do not want socialism, Soviet Union, communism," Spartz, who represents Indiana, told reporters during a GOP news conference about President Biden's State of the Union address. "They want to be with the United States of America. They want to be free people. They want to be with the West."
Kyiv, Ukraine's capital, continues to be under attack and was sustaining intense shelling as Spartz spoke. The Indiana congresswoman's grandmother is 95 and lives in Chernihiv, a city just a few hours north of the capital. According to her official biography, Spartz immigrated to the US in 2000 after meeting her husband who is from Indiana.
"She told my mom … 'do not cry, we are not crying here just give us some guns,'" Spartz said, choking back tears as she recounted her mother's conversation with her grandmother. "'So we don't just fight with the sticks.'"
Spartz claimed that Russia is killing women and children. Insider cannot independently verify accounts of fighting on the ground. Ukraine's human rights commissioner said on Monday that several children were among the 210 civilians who died so far since Russia began its bombing campaign of Ukraine's largest cities after building up more than 150,000 troops near its borders.
Putin, Spartz added, is not going to stop with Ukraine. She said what President Joe Biden is "allowing to happen" is "unforgivable," adding that the president "will have the blood of many millions of Ukrainians on his hands too."
"If we don't stop him there, he is not going to stop," she said. "He is going to further and then we'll have to send our children to die to fight this."
President Joe Biden has repeatedly vowed that he will not deploy US forces to defend Ukraine. The US has committed more than $1 billion in security assistance to Ukraine in the past year, Reuters previously reported. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy confirmed talks are underway about sending additional lethal aid to Ukraine.
Spartz called for a humanitarian corridor to be set up within the country, which would be a temporary zone that would allow Ukrainian people to flee the war and for international aid workers to come in with assistance. The World Health Organization has also called for such a zone to be established.
If Russia were to oppose such a zone, it would put enormous pressure on an already delicate situation. The White House has rebuffed calls for a no-fly zone and similar military support that would risk the US and Russia engaging in an open shooting war between two nuclear powers.
Spartz wants to see the US and the West impose tougher sanctions and has called for more Western companies to cut ties with Russia. So far, action has centered around multi-national energy companies that hold key stakes in the heart of Russia's economy. Both BP and Shell have announced plans to cut their Russian operations.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.