April 16, 2022

2 Republican lawmakers the first U.S. officials to visit Ukraine post-invasion

Montana Sen. Steve Daines and Ukrainian-American Rep. Victoria Spartz of Indiana, both Republicans, became the first U.S. officials to visit Ukraine since Russia's invasion.

Daines and Indiana visited Kyiv on Thursday, speaking with Ukrainian officials and visiting the capital city's suburbs.

They also traveled to the mass grave sites in the nearby city of Bucha, left devastated by Russian forces who had occupied the area.

Daines, who documented the trip with photos, said he wanted the world to see the result of Russian President Vladmir Putin's invasion.

What they witnessed included the removal of bodies from a mass grave in Bucha, and a collapsed apartment building in Borodyanka, where 21 people died, the New York Times reported.

"Nothing can substitute for actually being here, seeing it firsthand," Daines said.

The pictures he captured showed "indisputable evidence of Putin's war crimes," he said.

"The images of shallow mass graves filled with civilians, women and children are heart wrenching," he said in a statement.

"America and the world need to know about Putin's atrocities against the innocent people of Ukraine now, not after time has passed and the aftermath of evil and bloodshed have been cleaned up," he said.

Kyiv's regional police chief Andriy Nebytov said Friday more than 900 civilian bodies have been found near Kyiv. Two mass graves in Bucha contained 97 bodies, most of which had been shot.

"Bucha has the highest number of casualties, which means that the occupiers operating in Bucha were the most brutal," Nebytov said in a news briefing as translated by NBC News. "We have already taken more than 350 bodies from the city."

Daines said the war crimes -- which have included raping Ukrainian women -- would end as soon as the United States can back Ukraine with the "lethal aid" needed to win the fight against Russia.

Spartz, the first Ukrainian-born Congress member, sent a letter Tuesday to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, asking to return some U.S. diplomats to Ukraine "to assist U.S. citizens and improve intergovernmental coordination."

At a Thursday briefing, State Department spokesman Ned Price said the agency is "constantly evaluating and re-evaluating the safety and the security situation."

It plans to send U.S. diplomats to the war-torn country when it is safe to do so, Price said, adding that the lack of diplomats on the ground has not hampered the State Department's ability to consult with Ukrainian partners.

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