Senators debate wording, citations and distribution of Ukraine-resolution on four-year anniversary

Sen. Tanya Dubovsky presented a resolution to the Economic Development, Housing & General Affairs Committee on Feb. 24 recognizing the fourth anniversary of Russia’s invasion and emphasizing harm to civilians and children. She told the committee the text was adapted from a Wisconsin resolution and revised with input from contacts in Ukraine.

Dubovsky said the resolution was drafted to highlight the civilian impact: “with a particular focus on the impact to civilian infrastructure and children,” and to call attention to reported forcible transfers and other harms since 2014 and especially after February 2022. Members thanked her and noted the news cycle had renewed public attention on the anniversary.

Discussion turned to wording and citation choices. Senators debated whether to describe the invasion as "illegal" without explicit legal citation and whether to label particular acts as war crimes or as acts that likely violate the Geneva Conventions. Committee counsel Michael Churn explained the drafting process and noted he incorporated comments from Ukraine-based contacts; senators asked counsel to check international-law references and casualty figures before finalizing the text. As Churn summarized, the committee could remove or rephrase charged terms or add citations to international law to support characterizations.

Members also suggested expanding distribution of the resolution beyond ambassadors to include the U.S. president and Vermont’s congressional delegation, and the committee generally supported adding those recipients. On casualty and incident language, senators recommended replacing single-incident counts with cumulative figures or clearer phrasing (for example: a maternity hospital bombing on March 9, 2022, that caused deaths and many injuries, and the broader human toll of the siege of Mariupol) and agreed counsel should verify sources before publication.

No vote was taken. The chair asked Sen. Dubovsky and counsel to revise the text, add legal citations where appropriate (or hedge phrasing to reflect probable violations), and return quickly with an amended draft and the additional recipients list.