Make your testimony was excellent we look forward to answering questions but i apologize for the late start we had a number of votes so i will ask my Opening Statement be entered into the record so we can have a full conversation for questionandanswer i will turn it over to senator shaheen. Thank you mister chair im happy to submit my opening comments i look forward to the testimony of our panel. Thank you the investors agreed to give his opening testimony and then give the other witnesses and then well get to questions. Started with our first witness us special representative for ukraine negotiations ambassador voelker was can remember with Foreign Service over 22 years of experience working on policy with five and many Previous Administration is previously served as acting senior director from the National Security council and private office of nato secretary general robertson. Thank you mister chairman for the opportunity to testify today per glass i have a statement for the record i will speak more candidly about the situation in ukraine. First its an honor to be here and i appreciate that thank you to senators on both sides of the aisle it is critically important and to say a few words why that matters and where ukraine is today, concerning why it matters most importantly we start with the people. Ukrainians are people who seek and deserve the freedom of security just like other people in europe. The United States has led the development of nato for decades in the European Union held to build free and prosperous europe no reason why ukraine or others should not they have the same values and aspirations. The first is the people. Second they are a country that has been attacked the territory seized, the fighting continues and they are in need of support. Not only just on the merits of that alone but make sure we do not allow europe to be taken apart through the use of military force. Looking at the same principles of 75 which was unique at the time with no coercion and the right to choose their own security orientation, those are principles we need to continue to uphold if we dont do so we run the risk we will see that challenge and thats dangerous for all of us. If we dont invest in security today we will pay for lack of security tomorrow. Ukraine is in the balance. They just had a president ial election. The president was elected was 73 percent of the popular vote and came out of nowhere. He had zero seats in the parliament and ukraine has gone to early parliamentary election elections. The number one task before him is to take that 73 percent converting that into actual votes for his program. That is his political challenge at the moment during the course of the campaign he promised substantial reform of corruption to economy and judiciary and that is what they voted for. 73 percent of the public voted for him he also generated very High Expectations for policies pursued. I believe the president also did an excellent job with those reforms probably more accomplished in the last four than the preceding 20 but ukrainian people want even more to go faster and further and more aggressively and that is what the president offered. Its important we support those policies and principles as long as he is willing to continue to advance that agenda and as much support as we can give him. He has a few other important challenges to amass Political Capital to create reform and a lot of those structures are behind the scenes like oligarchs who control the media and economic assets and it will be difficult for him to take on that system. Normally that is what is essential to break free of its past to take advantage of the Natural Resources of the great Human Capital through Phenomenal Growth its also necessary of course, Everyone Wants to try to influence the outcome whether russia or oligarchs. We have seen an increase of russia media propaganda over the past few weeks. These are all areas of concerns why it is important. Concerning us policy we were engaged and we engage we argued from a time on russias side to where now we are on the ukraine side. More unified with a Strong National identity pro european, skeptic more than ever before. That gives a resilience for the long term and in addition we afford very hard to keep policy strong to maintain sanction sanctions, lifting the ban and that has gone through with the acceptance of our european allies as well. Just today we are announcing how we deal with 25 million of support for the Ukraine Military that Congress Approved and we are grateful for that. So we have a more sustainable position if what russia runs is a ukraine through the russian empire the ukrainian people will never go back there. But also what we have done is make sure we have a hand outreach to work with russia if they wish to do that so thus far we have not seen any indication they want to do that and they remain in denial about their responsibility that they pay for the contracts and pick the administration and pay for them and provide intelligence so this is 100 percent russian controlled instead of a ukrainian internal matter which is not the case. We continue to insist it release the sailors we urge them to pursue a ceasefire to my russian counterparts asking them to get together in the consultations with ukraine with the french and germans. We need to move ahead again but we need to know if russia wants to take this seriously. Therefore we dont see any indication of that. In terms of outreach, the future of ukraine over the next five years is shaped in the next three months and how they can operate independently as president of ukraine without any undue influence this will be critical and just as important to have full support of the United States and europe to do so. We have reached out secretary pompeo called the candidate and then the president on the eve of the election. President trump called to congratulate on the night of the election. You took part in a president ial delegation to be there for the inauguration and we had a lengthy meeting then since then President Trump has written to the current president and he is welcoming him to the white house anytime he agrees and we hope it is soon. We have remained engaged in a number of ways for dinner and also he made the reference to europe. We are reaching out in a variety of ways that we can assemble another trip to ukraine in the next several weeks. Finally one. Out there its important we dont forget about the people that are living through a war on their territory ever prewar population of 3 million they are dealing with disrupted water supply, collapsed economy, pressure on Health Care System freedom of movement and difficulty of brown tree crossings with the occupied area and the rest of ukraine, and Cell Phone Service which is vital. It is a grinding situation for the people that need our support as government and as we can give them hopefully we need to put a spotlight on this issue. Because we cannot forget about those people even though we see a very difficult situation to resolve this conflict going ahead. Where we see us policy for as long as i have been involved is the restoration of sovereignty with safety and security. Thank you ambassador for your past service and your future service now we will call the other witnesses. I really do believe ukraine is ground zero in this geopolitical conflict between russia and the United States. We are here this is bipartisan support that on that unanimous basis to demonstrate that support and that final comment is the delegation from the Foreign Affairs committee and i did express my concern there is conflict between it just isnt good from the strong unanimous support to maintain as long as they Work Together with the benefit of ukraine. Going to ambassador john hirsch from the arisia center serving 31 years as a Foreign Service officer