President Zelensky addresses Congress; Santa Barbara, Goleta nonprofits provide further assistance
Lydia, a Ukrainian resident, stands on her property, which has been hit by Russian missiles. She talked to Santa Barbara-based ShelterBox USA about what her home needs to be bearable for living. “The roof needs repair, snow and rain come through. We brought windows at our own expense, but others still need repair.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stood before a joint session of Congress Wednesday and urged lawmakers to approve nearly $50 billion in additional aid during the Russian invasion.
“Your money is not charity,” said President Zelensky, thanking Congress for its previous aid packages. “It’s an investment in global security and democracy that we handle in the most responsible way.”
At that point, all the lawmakers stood and applauded.
“Russia — Russia could stop its aggression, really if it wanted to,” President Zelensky said. “But you can speed up our victory. I know it.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky
“The battle continues, and we have to defeat the Kremlin on the battlefield,” he said.
President Zelensky emphasized that the salvation of Ukraine is in the world’s best interests.
“The battle is not only for the life, freedom and security of Ukrainians or any other nation which Russia attempts to conquer,” he told Congress. “This struggle will define in what world our children and grandchildren will live, and then their children and grandchildren.
“It will define whether it will be a democracy of Ukrainians and for Americans, for all,” he said.
“This battle cannot be frozen or postponed,” President Zelensky said. “It cannot be ignored, hoping that the ocean or something else will provide protection.
“From the United States to China, from Europe to Latin America and from Africa to Australia, the world is too interconnected and too interdependent to allow someone to stay inside and at the same time to feel safe when such a battle continues,” he said.
ShelterBox USA President Kerri Murray stands at a train station at the Polish border with Ukraine. She plans to visit Ukraine in January.
“Our two nations are allies in the battle, and next year will be a turning point. I know it,” said President Zelensky, who was making his first foreign trip since the start of the war.
The Ukrainian president, who met earlier in the day with President Joe Biden, made his speech at a time when Republican lawmakers, whose party will take over the House on Jan. 3 with a slim majority, say they want to review aid to Ukraine with more scrutiny.
U.S. Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Bakersfield, who’s expected to be the next speaker of the House, has said White House requests for funds for Ukraine will face a more difficult path for approval.
So far, Congress has spent $68 billion for Ukraine at a time when the U.S. deficit is $1.4 trillion and at a time when conservative critics have blamed government spending for record-breaking inflation.
The U.S. aid for Ukraine has included money for weapons, humanitarian assistance and funds to keep Kyiv’s government functioning.
Much of the help for Ukraine is coming from nonprofits, including two local organizations who are stepping up their efforts for Ukraine, as reported in a two-part series that concludes on Page B1 of today’s News-Press.
One of the nonprofits is Goleta-based Direct Relief, which recently announced a new $7.9 billion package of grants in humanitarian and medical aid for Ukraine and Ukrainian refugees in Slovakia.
The aid includes funds for items such as medical logistics operations, mental health services, assistance for a rehabilitation center and other medical facilities, ambulances and ambulatory services, humanitarian aid, and generators and similar heating equipment.
More details about Direct Relief’s work were reported in Wednesday’s News-Press. You can find the story online at newspress.com/direct-reliefs-aid-for-ukraine.
The other nonprofit is Santa Barbara-based ShelterBox USA, whose president, Kerri Murray, talked to the News-Press Wednesday a few hours before President Zelensky’s address to Congress.
“Right now, we are in a really dire humanitarian situation,” Ms. Murray said, noting Ukraine is facing an emergency with a lack of heat and power during a freezing winter.
“The people are making the best of it in Ukraine, but they absolutely need economic support,” Ms. Murray said. “We’ve had teams on the ground, as recently as last week.”
“The situation on the ground is so dire,” she said. “They have no power. There’s no heat. There’s not good running water. Without a doubt, people will die this winter.”
ShelterBox USA told the News-Press about one Ukrainian resident, Lydia, whose house is on the back of a larger property damaged by Russian missile strikes. ShelterBox USA said repairs are needed to make the home bearable for living.
“The doors are damaged,” Lydia, who lives with her elderly disabled husband, told ShelterBox. “At night when I sleep, I cannot close the house. The roof needs repair, snow and rain come through. We brought windows at our own expense, but others still need repair.”
ShelterBox is helping Ukrainians like Lydia with winter kits that include high thermal blankets and sleeping bags, wood-burning stoves, plastic sheeting to help seal broken windows and hardening foam that can be used to close gaps in damaged homes.
“The people are making the best of the situation,” Ms. Murray said. “They’d rather live without power and in the cold than live under Russian occupation.”
Ms. Murray said ShelterBox anticipates being in Ukraine at least through the duration of 2023, “if not well beyond that.” She noted ShelterBox has been in Syria for 11 years, the longest response in its history.
Ms. Murray told the News-Press Wednesday that she plans to visit Ukraine in January.
And she praised President Zelensky.
“He has an extraordinary sense of fortitude. He’s a really strong leader.”
email: dmason@newspress.com
MORE INSIDE
Santa Barbara-based ShelterBox USA adds a rapid response project to help Ukraine. B1.
HELPING UKRAINE
To assist ShelterBox USA’s efforts for Ukraine, visit shelterboxusa.org/winter.
To assist Direct Relief’s efforts, go to directrelief.org.
