Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal used a visit to Chicago on Tuesday to warn of the consequences of Republican-led congressional inaction in delivering further U.S. aid to his country for its war with Russia, saying that doing nothing could put an end to global security and lead to global conflict.
“We are at a turning point of world history and it is very difficult to overestimate what is at stake. This is not just about (Russian President Vladimir) Putin versus Ukraine. It’s not even about Putin versus the West and free world. We are taking about protecting the existing global security system against a worldwide threat of uncontrolled aggression, crimes against humanity and genocides in many parts of the world,” he told students at the University of Chicago.
“If Ukraine will fall, if you will lose this war, so global security will be destroyed and we all will be under tremendous, under huge danger. And we will need to find a new solution how to build new global security or we will not build and we will live in new era when wars exist all around the globe,” he said. “It will be thousands of conflicts smaller and bigger and at the end of the day it could lead to the Third World War because it will increase and increase and increase.”
Shmyhal’s comments came after he met with Gov. J.B. Pritzker, who blasted congressional Republicans for holding up further aid to the war-torn country as it heads into a third-year of fighting to hold off a Russian invasion.
“The United States is a nation that leads in the global fight for democracy and freedom. But will we continue to do that?” Pritzker asked during a downtown news conference, asserting that “fully half of the congressional Republicans lack the courage and moral fortitude to stand up.”
“Here in Illinois, we will not compromise in the face of Putin’s aggression and tyranny,” the governor said.
Shmyhal’s visit comes as his country’s war effort in recent months has faced an increasingly divided U.S. Congress, with some Republicans resisting efforts to continue providing billions of dollars in aid.
After months of delay, Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson this week announced he would back separate House votes on assistance to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, rather than voting on a wider foreign aid package all at once.
But Johnson’s plan on Tuesday already was facing pushback from some far-right members of his caucus for failing to include money for domestic border security. Johnson unveiled his plan as at least two Republican members are backing a move to remove him as speaker, an office he assumed less than six months ago after the chamber’s GOP majority spent weeks trying to agree on a successor to Kevin McCarthy, who was dumped on a similar motion. Johnson declared he would not resign the speakership.
Though Johnson’s latest plan marks a possible step toward more assistance for Ukraine, it also opens the door to alterations to the aid package that the Senate previously passed. Republicans have also toyed with the idea of providing some of the Ukraine assistance as loans.
Illinois was a symbolic first stop on Shmyhal’s United States trip, the prime minister said, as “the state that has shown outstanding support for the people of Ukraine.”
Illinois State Police sent body armor to Ukraine; the General Assembly divested pension funds from Russia; Chicago supported and relocated Ukrainian refugees; and Illinoisans have sent ambulances to the country, the governor said. In addition, U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley of Chicago was the only Democrat to vote against emergency spending legislation aimed at averting a government shutdown last year, citing its lack of money for Ukraine.
Moving forward, Shmyhal asked for more Illinois companies to stop doing business with Russia and for Illinois cities to assist in Ukraine’s reconstruction.
“Ukraine will forever remember the generosity of the people of Illinois,” Shmyhal said. “It is impossible to overestimate the value of all the humanitarian assistance that Chicagoans and the people of Illinois, including the Ukrainian diaspora, have provided to Ukraine so far.”
The visit also provided a personal moment for the governor and his sister, former U.S. Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker, who spoke at the news conference as a U.S. special representative to Ukraine.
The Pritzkers’ great-grandfather “fled Kyiv 140 years ago to the United States to escape the Jewish persecution at the time,” Penny Pritzker said, eventually allowing the family “to build a life here in Chicago.” The family is now one of the wealthiest in the United States.
Shmyhal also met with Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson on Tuesday, as well as with Chicago business leaders to discuss possibilities for future investment in Ukraine.
At the University of Chicago, despite the bleak geopolitical assessment he made in the absence of further U.S. aid arriving soon, Shmyhal said Ukrainians were “absolutely not exhausted” as the fighting continues.
But “we are tired,” he acknowledged.
Russia’s military holds a 10-to-1 advantage in available artillery shells and needs more air defense support as Russia continually modernizes missiles and air techniques, he said.
“We need more weaponry and it’s important to have the support from the United States. Why? Because we protect not just our homes and our land, our families. We protect our common values all around the globe,” Shmyhal said.
“Support of the United States is not charity. This is absolutely a pragmatic idea to support Ukraine and to support United States producers,” he said, citing armaments made in the U.S. for shipment to Ukraine. “We use this to protect our common values. So this is like both (a) beneficial story for supporting each other.”
