Press Release: Committee Chair Manning Releases Statement on Ukraine
OFFICE OF SENATOR JAMES I. MANNING, JR
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 6, 2025
Press Contact:
Elizabeth Cronen, elizabeth.cronen@oregonlegislature.gov
Committee Chair Manning Releases Statement on Ukraine
Oregon Senate committee heard testimony today on sister-state relationship with Cherkasy, Ukraine
SALEM, OR – Senator James I. Manning Jr. today chaired a public hearing in the Committee on Veterans, Emergency Management, Federal and World Affairs to consider an Oregon Senate resolution creating a ceremonial relationship between the State of Oregon and Cherkasy Oblast, Ukraine.
He released the follow statement:
“For more than 24 years I served active-duty in the U.S. Army, training soldiers and serving overseas in Asia, Central America, and Australia. I know what it means to display peace through strength, and I know dictatorships and war-mongering regimes when I see them.
That’s why, on the heels of a disastrous White House conversation last week, Tuesday night’s self-aggrandizing joint address to Congress, and last week’s three-year anniversary of the illegal Russian invasion of Ukraine, it is imperative we call out the atrocities, the alarming loss of human life, and Russia’s unacceptable escalation of war.
As Chair of the Senate Committee on Veterans, Emergency Management, Federal and World Affairs, I am proud to support Senate Concurrent Resolution 23 (SCR 23), creating for the first time, a ceremonial sister-state relationship between the oblast of Cherkasy, Ukraine and the State of Oregon.
Together, our two states will continue to promote the ideals of basic human rights, civil liberties, and strength in diversity of people and ideas. More than 4,500 Ukrainians have arrived in Oregon since Russia upended the lives of everyday Ukrainians and invaded the sovereign nation in February 2022.
As Oregon’s Senate President Pro-Tempore and Chair of the committee on veterans and world affairs, I stand with Defend-Aid-Widen-Nurture (DAWN) and the Oregon Department of Human Services who plan to distribute $2.25 million in federal grants to help refugees from war-torn Ukraine. These funds are vital to refugees securing critical access to housing assistance, employment services, health and mental health programs, and legal services.
For independence, prosperity, freedom, and safety, I pray for peace in Ukraine, and I call on fellow Oregonians as well as leaders across our state, country, and world to stand strong with Ukraine.”