Congressman Chris Smith joined some 100 Ukrainian-Americans at a rally outside his office in the Raintree Shopping Center Saturda. The rally was in support of the Ukrainian Americans gathered there whose family members and friends are in grave danger in their own country because of the Putin invasion and the subsequent senseless death of men, women and children.
Smith met with the organizers of the rally in his office, and also criticized President Biden’s exit from Afghanistan, action he said likely enabled Putin to pursue his aggression on Ukraine. He called for immediate and strong international support for the people of Ukraine in their fight against the Russian dictator.
“Now more than ever, the United States and our allies must provide much-needed military equipment and humanitarian aid to the courageous people of Ukraine as they courageously and tenaciously fight to defend their freedom from a brutal dictatorship,” Smith said to the crowd.
“Comprehensive sanctions must degrade Putin’s capacity to wage war,” he continued. “Putin—and other Russian leaders responsible for these crimes against humanity—must be prosecuted as war criminals.”
Smith has authored four laws promoting democracy in Eastern Europe, and has earned a reputation for personally intervening to help those endangered by Russian aggression in the region.
It was in 2008, when Russia invaded Georgia, that the Congressman helped secure the safe return of two young girls from the 4th Congressional district which he represents, as well as several others behind enemy lines during that invasion.
