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Photos: Kaine Highlights Need to Continue Support for America's Alliances on Official Visits to Poland, Ukraine, and Germany

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Tim Kaine, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations and Armed Services Committees, concluded a week-long trip of official visits in Poland, Ukraine, and Germany to highlight his support for America’s transatlantic partnerships and Ukraine’s fight against Russia’s brutal invasion. The visit came amid Russia’s horrific Palm Sunday attack on the Ukrainian town of Sumy, which killed dozens of innocent civilians, including children; global fallout from the Trump Administration’s chaotic tariff regime that not only punishes allies, but also severely inhibits defense cooperation; and reported plans to shrink America’s diplomatic presence abroad—even as China moves to expand its own footprint.

“America has always been strongest and safest when we link arms with our allies. I traveled to Poland, Ukraine, and Germany this week to highlight the importance of that principle, especially in the face of Russia’s continued illegal invasion of Ukraine. Putin’s horrific Palm Sunday attack in Sumy was a disturbing—yet unsurprising—sign that Russia is not negotiating in good faith to stop the fighting. It’s more important than ever that we strengthen our relationships across the Atlantic. I know that I have colleagues on both sides of the aisle who see how the Trump Administration’s chaotic tariff regime and insulting comments about our friends abroad make that harder, and will keep doing all that I can to urge them to stand up for the alliances that keep America safe.”

Photos of Kaine’s trip are available here.

Kaine traveled to Poland to:

  • Meet U.S. servicemembers stationed at the Logistical Support Area (LSA) in Jasionka, which has played a critical role in delivering security assistance to Ukraine since 2022.
  • Visit Remote Maintenance Distribution Cell-Ukraine, a U.S. Army sustainment initiative that provides direct maintenance and repair support to the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
  • Meet with Rzeszów Mayor Konrad Fijolek. Rzeszów was given the distinction of “Rescuer City” by President Zelenskyy in honor of the humanitarianism, charity, and solidarity it has offered the Ukrainian people. Kaine is a former mayor and the meeting provided an opportunity to reaffirm U.S.-Polish cooperation on regional security, especially at the local level.
  • Meet with Head of the National Security Bureau Lt. General Dariusz Lukowski, Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski, and Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz to discuss support for Ukraine and NATO.
  • Visit the POLIN Museum, which is dedicated to telling the history of Jewish life in Poland, including the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising Movement of 1943, in which Jewish insurgents in the Nazi-created ghetto resisted German troops and police who entered it to deport its surviving inhabitants.

Then, Kaine traveled to Ukraine to:

  • Meet with David Arakhamia, a leader of the Servant of the People political party in the Verkhovna Rada, and Sergiv Boyev, Deputy Minister of Defense for European Integration.
  • Visit wounded Ukrainian veterans undergoing rehabilitation treatment at a NextStep Ukraine facility. NextStep Ukraine offers prosthetics, brain and spinal cord injury rehabilitation to veterans. The organization receives U.S. funding.
  • Tour the Kyiv Combined Heat and Power Plant No. 5, a major infrastructure site that supplies both electricity and heat to five districts of the city, to highlight U.S. support for energy infrastructure in Ukraine. The facility was severely impacted by Russian missile strikes in October 2022 and again in March 2023. USAID provided the funding and expertise to restore the plant’s operations.
  • Lay flowers at the Bucha Memorial that honors the civilians and prisoners of war killed by Russian forces during their occupation of the town in early 2022.
  • Lay flowers at the Wall of Remembrance of the Fallen for Ukraine, which honors the lives of thousands of soldiers and volunteers who have died defending Ukraine. The Wall of Remembrance was created through a collaboration between the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyiv Patriarchate, the National Military History Museum, and civic memory organizations.
  • Visit the site of the 1941 massacre at Babyn Yar, a ravine near Kyiv.
  • Meet with Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union, a leading civil society coalition dedicated to promoting and protecting human rights in Ukraine and pursuing accountability for Russian war crimes.

Then, Kaine traveled to Germany to:

  • Meet with Norbert Röttgen, a member of the German Bundestag who has long led on German foreign affairs issues; Deputy Director-General of the German Ministry of Defense Major General Stefan Schulz; and the German State Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Susanne Baumann. 
  • Visit the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, a place of remembrance and commemoration for the six million Jewish victims of the Holocaust.
  • Visit United States European Command Headquarters in Stuttgart.
  • Visit U.S. servicemembers assigned to United States Air Force Europe and Special Operations Command Europe in Ramstein.

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