WASHINGTON – Following President Trump announcing that Putin was planning a massive attack on Ukraine, U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee joined Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), along with Senators Jack Reed (D-RI), Mark Warner (D-VA) and Chris Coons (D-DE), to introduce legislation that would encourage the administration to quickly identify additional air defense systems that could be transferred to Ukraine to provide a layered defense against further Russian attacks and save civilian lives.
This week, President Trump announced that he spoke to President Putin for over an hour where Putin revealed he planned to retaliate against Ukraine for Ukraine’s successful attack against Russian military assets. Overnight, that attack became a reality as Putin launched an aerial assault consisting of missiles and drones, which claimed the lives of multiple civilians, and injured many more. In a strong affirmation of U.S. support for Ukraine, Ranking Member Shaheen and her colleagues introduced the following resolution to promote the need for sustainable security assistance to Ukraine to provide a credible defense and deterrence against horrific Russian aerial attacks by expediting already-approved air defense systems.
The legislation is co-sponsored by other top Democratic leaders on the national security committees, including Ranking Member of the Armed Services Committee, Jack Reed (D-RI), Vice Chair of the Intelligence Committee, Mark Warner (D-VA), and Ranking Member of the Appropriations Defense Subcommittee, Chris Coons (D-DE).
The Ukraine Air Defense Resolution would push the Trump administration to use the existing authority that Congress provided in the 2024 National Security Supplemental to identify additional air defense capabilities, especially advanced PATRIOT air defense interceptors; National Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMs); and radar guided air-to-air missiles (AMRAAMs), within existing United States stocks for transfer to Ukraine to provide a layered defense against Russian attacks. The resolution also calls on the President to rapidly approve the re-export of available United States air defense systems that are currently owned by our allies and partners they can provide them for the defense of civilians in Ukraine.
Only sophisticated U.S. air defense systems have proven effective against the increasingly deadly Russian ballistic missile attacks. Ukraine does not have enough of these air defense systems, especially the interceptors. Getting more of these advanced air defense systems is a matter of life or death for the people of Ukraine. Even Secretary Marco Rubio in congressional testimony, on May 20th, 2025, cited Ukraine’s need for additional air defenses, noting that “to the extent that the Ukrainians have asked for anything additional, what they've asked for is air defenses.” Congress has already authorized and appropriated more funding for these advanced missile defense systems. The administration must work immediately and expeditiously to transfer these life-saving systems.
The full resolution text can be found here.
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