Razom for Ukraine and Partners’ 2nd Annual Ukraine Action Summit Brings Together 300+ Advocates in Washington D.C.
WASHINGTON, D.C — This April, Razom for Ukraine, along with our partners in the American Coalition for Ukraine, co-organized the 2nd Ukraine Action Summit in Washington DC. This year, we expanded on all fronts – more participants, more partner organizations, and more programming. Over 300 participants from 34 states, representing 62 organizations, joined us in Washington D.C. for three days of Congressional meetings, advocacy training, panel discussions, and networking.
Our Summit began with a kickoff and advocacy training session at Georgetown University, where participants were given a primer on the key legislative issues around Ukraine, how to talk to lawmakers and staffers and met with their state delegations. For the next two days of the Summit, participants joined over 150 meetings with Congressional staffers, offices, and representatives from states across the country. All told, they met with 1/3rd of the offices in Congress.
During the meetings, participants discussed the measures Congress can take to help Ukraine, including designating the Wagner Group a foreign terrorist organization, declaring Ukraine’s invasion a genocide, providing consistent military aid, condemning Russia’s forced transfer of Ukrainian children, and more. We want to thank all the offices that welcomed our participants, and have supported Ukraine – victory will require us all working together.
Nearby, participants also attended panel sessions, held in downtown D.C, where they heard from experts on topics such as aid to Ukraine, the latest analysis from the frontlines, decolonizing Western academia, stopping genocide and child deportations, media and advocacy, and more. Experts presented candid insights and actionable tips for participants to maximize their advocacy work and educate their communities about Ukraine – thank you to all our panelists for joining us!
On Tuesday, participants joined a press conference on Capitol Grounds featuring Representatives Wilson, Cohen and Kaptur, alongside Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko. At the conference, the representatives announced the bipartisan Ukrainian Victory Resolution. The resolution affirms that it is the US policy to support Ukraine’s victory against the Russian invasion and holds that Ukraine must secure its victory by integration into NATO. It also declares that the United States must work with its allies and partners to ensure that Russian leaders are held accountable for their acts, while Ukraine receives reparations, reconstruction, and justice.
Thank you to these representatives and cosponsors of this important resolution, and the representatives who introduced it in the Senate: Senators Blumenthal, Whitehouse, and Graham. It is vital for our international partners that the United States have a clearly articulated strategy for supporting Ukraine – and this resolution lays out a vision for a secure, just peace for Ukraine.
The work of organizing the Summit was headed up by Razom Advocacy – a branch of Razom for Ukraine committed to advancing nonpartisan research and policy and to nurturing community engagement across the United States and Ukraine – in collaboration with the American Coalition for Ukraine. To learn more about the Ukraine Action Summit and the American Coalition for Ukraine, visit AmericanCoalitionForUkraine.org, & check out the hashtags #UkraineActionSummit on social media.
Being able to bring together so many advocates from around the country to fight for peace, justice, and prosperity in Ukraine, for the second time in less than a year, has been stupendous. Showing unity and enthusiasm is crucial for sustaining strong support for Ukraine by our representatives. We look forward to continuing this important work together. To be the first to know about the dates for the next Summit, follow the American Coalition for Ukraine on Facebook.
Don’t Believe the Hype — Bipartisan Support for Ukraine Remains Strong in Congress
By Government Affairs Team, Razom Advocacy
As the new Republican majority in the House of Representatives gets underway for the 118th Congress, a narrative has taken hold that there is a growing partisan divide when it comes to supporting Ukraine. According to this misguided idea, Republicans across the board are raising new roadblocks and have turned against Ukraine, while Democrats want to see Ukraine prevail against the genocidal war currently being waged by Russia.
This narrative is demonstrably incorrect and diminishes a genuine area of bipartisan cooperation in Washington.
While some members of both parties have cast doubt on US policy towards Ukraine, they remain in the small minorities on both sides of the aisle. Certain Members of Congress from each major party have been vocal about their objections to further US support for Ukraine, but they have been far more effective in attracting headlines than the support of their fellow lawmakers.
Over the course of the 117th Congress, our tracking index of 23 key Russia- and Ukraine-related votes in the House of Representatives reveals an overwhelmingly pro-Ukraine voting record for both parties. From legislation to sanction Russia economic actors, to support the victims of Putin’s aggression, and to send aid to Ukraine, the record paints a clear picture. The Republican caucus consistently voted in favor of Ukraine, vastly outvoting the less than 10 percent of House Republicans who regularly voted against these measures.
The bipartisan record of support for Ukraine is even stronger in the Senate. Take, for example, the recent inclusion of $45 billion dollars for Ukraine in December’s Omnibus spending package. The final level of support was $7 billion or 15 percent above what was requested by the Biden Administration. Those additional funds were championed by leaders of both parties and would not have happened if it were not for the specific work of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Senator James Risch — both Republicans.
Leaders of the Republican party talk the talk as well as walking the walk. In his speech at the Munich Security Conference on February 17, Leader McConnell underscored his party’s commitment: “My party’s leaders overwhelmingly support a strong, involved America and a robust trans-Atlantic alliance. Don’t look at Twitter, look at people in power… We are committed to helping Ukraine.” And in his appearance on Fox News on February 16th, he made the case directly to the American people: “I’m going to try to help explain to the American people that defeating the Russians in Ukraine is the single most important event going on in the world right now.”
Indeed, just in the week of February 13th, two major pro-Ukraine bills have been reintroduced with strong bipartisan support, the Holding Accountable Russian Mercenaries (HARM) Act and the Ukraine Genocide Resolution. These bills are important ways for Congress to aid Ukraine in its fight, by enacting more punitive designations for Russian armed groups and calling out the actions of the aggressors as the genocide they are.
Without a doubt, there is much work to be done in the weeks and months ahead to maintain and expand the bipartisan support for Ukraine in the 118th Congress — especially as new fights on raising the debt ceiling loom large. Yet careful observers should be wary of easy or simplistic narratives that view everything in Washington through a purely partisan lens.
Members on both sides of the aisle — Republican and Democrat — are deeply and demonstrably committed to Ukraine’s victory. While members may differ on specific tactics or details of policy, the genuine support for Ukraine is palpable.
Lone or fringe voices can be loud, but not necessarily convincing. American leaders of both political parties are undertaking great efforts to see that Ukraine is ultimately victorious. And when victory does come, Ukraine will rightly be able to thank Republicans, Democrats, and Independants for the support America provided.
Presenting Razom Advocacy Team
Team members from near and far convened in New York for a two-day, action-packed program involving meeting other Razom teams and the Razom community at large to learn more about one another and do more great work together.
Friday was all about strategy and meeting with partners, including Renew Democracy Initiative and Razom friends at the Permanent Mission of Ukraine to the United Nations, Ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya and Ms. Yaroslava Sochka.
On Saturday, the Razom Advocacy Team presented its work to the Razom community and received updates on the ongoing developments of Razom as an organization. This event took place at the Shevchenko Scientific Society’s NYC headquarters. The Shevchenko Scientific Society is a Ukrainian-American scholarly institution incorporated in 1948 in New York that tracks its lineage to the Shevchenko Scientific Society established in 1873 in Lviv. Razom thanks the Shevchenko Scientific Society for hosting us.
The team then went a few blocks south in the Ukrainian Village to visit the Ukrainian Response Initiative’s new office space. Ukrainian Response Initiative was launched by the NYC Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs and assists newly arrived Ukrainian New Yorkers with legal services, translation services, social services, and other resources. During the visit, the Razom Advocacy Team met displaced Ukrainians and listened to their stories.
Finally, Tania Khodakivska, award-winning film editor and director residing in NYC, gave the team a guided tour of a new exhibit titled “Hi-Resolution: Ukrainian Culture and Contemporary Art Now” on view at the CUNY Graduate Center on 5th Avenue in New York. The exhibition was created by Oleksiy Sai, Nikita Kadan, and curator Ksenia Malykh in collaboration with the James Gallery. Admission is free, and the exhibition is open until February 18th. So please stop by and see it for yourself!
Thanks to everyone who joined the different sessions and coffee breaks and met with members of the Razom Advocacy Team this weekend.
Together — we are Ukraine!
Razom Advocacy’s First Year, Made Possible By You
Despite the horrors of the last year of Russia’s full-scale invasion and war in Ukraine, Americans – both of Ukrainian-American descent and from other backgrounds – have united together to advocate on behalf of our shared values of freedom and self-determination. In 2022, the Razom Advocacy Team was able to organize an advocacy network of more than 1,454 individuals. With all of your tireless support, we were able to achieve some notable successes throughout the year.
Congressional Engagement
In 2022, our Advocacy Team members and our network of Razom Advocates held more than 526 meetings with Congressional offices to ask for critical support for Ukraine such as military aid, the strengthening of sanctions, and economic assistance. Meetings weren’t the only way our advocates reached out to their Members of Congress – they also sent 3,671 messages to Capitol Hill, urging Congress to declare Russia a State Sponsor of Terrorism and to label Russia’s actions in Ukraine a genocide, among other important advocacy messages. By joining our advocacy network, individuals can call, send emails, and engage with their lawmakers on Twitter. Sign-up for the Razom advocacy network here to take an active role in promoting Ukrainian victory.
Engagement with Congressional offices through meetings and sending messages via action alert are crucial for affirming the importance of supporting Ukraine. In order to facilitate these connections, Razom for Ukraine and our 42 partner organizations of the American Coalition for Ukraine hosted our inaugural Ukraine Action Summit in September of 2022. During the Summit, 270 advocates from 33 states met with their federal lawmakers’ offices on Capitol Hill for a total of 176 meetings with Congressional members and staff.
Social Media Engagement
Social media platforms like Twitter and Instagram provide a low-barrier entry point for individuals wishing to get involved in the common goal of Ukrainian victory, making social media a critical tool that the Razom Advocacy Team employs in its advocacy. In 2022, our team launched several social media initiatives to raise awareness about the war in Ukraine that reached more than 150,000 individual accounts.
After the inception of the full-scale invasion, Razom for Ukraine began to organize weekly Twitter Spaces to educate listeners on the most relevant topics around the war. In 2022, we were honored to be joined by more than 40 invited experts speaking on topics that ranged from the recent military victories of the Ukrainian army to Ukrainian Independence Day traditions. You can join our Friday Twitter Spaces by following the Razom for Ukraine Twitter account.
If you’d like to follow current events in Ukraine and keep up with our initiatives, Razom provides daily updates on the most important events of the war on Twitter and Instagram, and our network of more than 100,000 subscribers helps to spread this information, further educating the public on what is important for Ukrainian victory.
Without critical partnerships with like-minded organizations and the support of advocates like you, these accomplishments would not have been possible.
Thank you to all of our advocates and supporters for making all of our advocacy work possible in 2022 – we could not have done this without your passionate phone calls, emails, tweets, and donations. We hope to continue this momentum into 2023 and work together to help achieve Ukrainian victory together.