Sen. Mitt Romney called for the U.S. to supply MiG jets to Ukraine. AP Photo: Alex Brandon, Pool.
SALT LAKE CITY — Some of Utah’s elected leaders are responding to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The comments range from outrage to fear for the safety of the Ukrainian people.
Utah Gov. Spencer Cox’s initial reaction on Wednesday night was a declaration that there is “evil in the world,” and that he was praying for the safety of the Ukrainian people.
By Thursday morning, the Governor’s response was to condemn the invasion.
Sen. Mike Lee called the invasion cruel and a gross breach of sovereignty. He, too, mentioned that the attack was “evil” and that he condemned it.
Rep. Chris Stewart noted what he called the mistaken assumption made by the West over the past ten years, that “an autocratic bully can be a reasonable geopolitical partner.”
Late Wednesday evening, Rep. Burgess Owens tweeted his response, calling the invasion “unprovoked” and that it undermined territorial sovereignty.
On Thursday, Rep. John Curtis tweeted a video message from Brussels, Belgium. He reported a somber, “almost surreal” mood, and noted the consequences that the Russian invasion of Ukraine had for Europe and the world.
On Wednesday night, Utah Sen. Mitt Romney issued the following statement:
“Putin’s Ukraine invasion is the first time in 80 years that a great power has moved to conquer a sovereign nation. It is without justification, without provocation and without honor,” his statement read. “Putin’s impunity predictably follows our tepid response to his previous horrors in Georgia and Crimea, our naive efforts at a one-sided ‘reset,’ and the shortsightedness of ‘America First.’ The ‘80s called’ and we didn’t answer. The peril of again looking away from Putin’s tyranny falls not just on the people of the nations he has violated, it falls on America as well. History shows that a tyrant’s appetite for conquest is never satiated. America and our allies must answer the call to protect freedom by subjecting Putin and Russia to the harshest economic penalties, by expelling them from global institutions, and by committing ourselves to the expansion and modernization of our national defense.”
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