- Activists were on Capitol Hill this week to urge support for Ukraine.
- Insider attended a meeting between the activists and Sen. Markwayne Mullin, an Oklahoma Republican.
WASHINGTON, DC — One activist came with photos of all that had been destroyed in the humanitarian catastrophe created by Russia's full-scale invasion. "This is in a village that had been occupied twice," she explained, showing the Republican staffer photos of a school that, "as you can see, has just been demolished."
"I can show you three more schools that look that bad or worse," she added. "The pictures don't even do it justice. I mean, it's unreal."
Another activist came with a reminder that Ukraine, though a victim, is capable of defending itself. He had a bookmark, handmade in Bucha — where occupying Russian forces are believed to have executed hundreds of civilians last year — but fashioned not out of paper but the plastic container used to hold one of the 155mm artillery shells that the United States has shipped to Ukraine since February 2022.
"It was fired during the summertime," he explained. "We were told to bring that stuff back and thank Americans."
The pair of activists — Paige Barrows, who fell in love with Ukraine while serving in the Peace Corps, returning a few months back to deliver humanitarian aid, and Ryan Meyer, who quit an office job in Oklahoma to spend most of the last year helping deliver supplies to front-line communities — were in Washington with hundreds of others for a summit aimed at bolstering support in both parties for providing the means for Kyiv to beat back the Russian invasion.
On the day of their meeting, the House of Representatives was still without a speaker, in part due to an internal GOP fight over Ukraine. A majority of Republican lawmakers are no longer so sure, at least publicly, that defending Kyiv from the Kremlin is in America's strategic interests.
On Tuesday, hundreds of pro-Ukraine activists, including a Ukrainian soldier using his vacation time, were on Capitol Hill to reverse that trend, urging lawmakers to support President Joe Biden's proposal for an additional $60 billion in aid, much of it to replenish depleted US arms stockpiles, and other legislation aimed at undermining Russia's war effort.
One measure, which activists stressed in their meetings, would authorize the Biden administration to transfer the Kremlin's frozen assets to Ukraine, effectively answering a right-wing critique — "Why should we pay for this?" — by suggesting that Russia foot the bill for Ukraine's reconstruction.
Sen. Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma, who the activists met with Tuesday afternoon, is about as conservative as they come, advocating a national ban on abortion and, in 2021, citing false claims of voter fraud to justify throwing out electoral votes from some battleground states.
But unlike some louder voices in his party, including former President Donald Trump (who he endorsed earlier this year), Mullin has been a reliable supporter of Ukraine, something he didn't shy away from when campaigning last year against a pair of Republican primary opponents who were either skeptical or outright opposed to more aid. In September, Politico reported that Mullin also appeared to have convinced his Republican colleagues in the House, at least temporarily, not to hold up aid to Ukraine over other political concerns, namely the US-Mexico border.
A member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Mullin's support appears steadfast. The senator posed for a photo Tuesday with a Ukrainian flag and told activists at the meeting — attended by Insider — that he plans to visit the country again early next year.
Scenes of war and its devastation, the senator said, are not something one can soon forget.
"It's a different world," he said on Tuesday [TO THE ACTIVISTS? DURING THE MEETING?]. "When you see it and smell it, and you see just what humans are capable of doing, it takes away that innocence."
Constituents 'mixed' on more aid
Whether Mullin's constituents will remain on board, however, is another question. Republican lawmakers are responding to concerns expressed by Republican voters — the people who will ultimately decide their political future. A majority of them are telling pollsters that enough is enough.
"Mixed." That's how Jack A. Edwards, a legislative aide to Mullin, described the calls that the senator's office has been receiving about Ukraine in recent weeks. There's been support, opposition, and support but with concerns about oversight, he said. "Oklahoma's no different than the rest of the country there."
What helps, he continued, is visits from activists like Barrows and Meyer, who can share information gleaned from their own trips to Ukraine. Such anecdotes can better inform lawmakers about the reality on the ground — and how US support makes a difference — but also, those lawmakers can, in turn, better inform their voters and shape the narratives in conservative and mainstream media.
Kate Tremont, a pro-Ukraine activist who lives in Washington, told Insider that's something friends of the country will need to focus on going forward, especially as partisanship increases ahead of the 2024 election.
"It's human nature to feel separated from something so far away, and I think that's both a thing that works against us and a thing that we can use by finding ways to connect people," she said, speaking as a jazz ensemble played at a reception for activists at the Ukraine House, which works with the Ukrainian Embassy to promote the country's culture and interests in Washington.
When the conflict is so removed from one's life that it doesn't even seem real, Tremont said, it's easier to believe "propaganda on the internet." What she wants to see more of is initiatives pairing up regular Americans with regular Ukrainians, such as programs that allow English speakers to teach their language over Zoom to people living in a conflict zone. The more such connections people make, the fewer calls senators will receive urging them to cut Ukraine loose, or at least that's one of the hopes.
"Programs like that are really clever and creative ways to get people to get to know each other," she said. "We live in a world where you're no longer constrained by your neighborhood to make friends. You can make friends all over the world, and we aren't using that — and we need to use it."