Rep. Victoria Spartz, a Republican who is Ukrainian American, was one of the official escorts for PresidentJoe Bidenat his firstState of the Union addresson Tuesday evening.
Spartz, 43, was seen with Biden walking into the House Chamber at the U.S. Capitol; she is one of approximately two dozen lawmakers on the bipartisan escort committee for this year’s speech.
The Indiana lawmaker was born in Nosivka and immigrated to the U.S. in 2000, according to her official biography. She was first elected in 2020 to represent a district in Indiana.
Rep. Kevin McCarthy, the Republican leader in the House of Representatives, designated Spartz as a presidential escort for the address afterRussia invaded Ukrainelast week,according toThe New York Times.
Earlier on TuesdaySpartz spoke out about the unfolding war, calling it a “genocide” and referring to “an atrocity.”
“They’re bombing civilians nonstop, day and night,” she said. “They are using illegal weapons. They now have special groups trying to kill women and children.”
(The International Criminal Court opened an investigation into war crimes and crimes against humanity on Monday. Russia has denied targeting civilian cites, despite accounts otherwise.)
Spartz also criticized the president for his handling of the crisis, saying at one point, “He needs to get his act together and exercise some leadership.”
“We have a president that talks about and talks about and doesn’t do things,” Spartz said in her criticism of the administration. “What is it going to do? Wait until a million died, then he is going to do more?”
She also offered a warning, speculating that Russian PresidentVladimir Putin’s aggression may spread.
“If we don’t stop him there, he is not going to stop. He is going to go further. And then we are going to have to send our children to stop him,” she said. “Then we’ll have to send our children to die to fight this.”
On that point in his speech Tuesday, Biden appeared to agree about the Russian leader. “Throughout our history we’ve learned this lesson when dictators do not pay a price for their aggression they cause more chaos,” he said. “They keep moving. And the costs and the threats to America and the world keep rising.”
For more on President Biden’s State of the Union address, listen below to our daily podcast on PEOPLE Every Day.
Russia’s attack on Ukraine continues after the country invaded on Thursday, with forces moving from the north, south and east.
“You don’t know where to go, where to run, who you have to call,” Liliya Marynchak, a 45-year-old teacher in Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine,told PEOPLE recentlyof the moment her city was bombed.
“This is just panic,” she said.
Various countries have pledged aid or military support to Ukraine, whose president,Volodymyr Zelenskyy, called for peace talks — since seemingly stalled — while urging his country to resist.
Putin insists Ukraine has historic ties to Russia and he is acting in the interest of so-called “peacekeeping.”
“The prayers of the entire world are with the people of Ukraine,” Biden said as the invasion began in force last week.
source: people.com
