New York, NY – Beginning on December 13,
Ukraine has been cleared to buy certain light weapons and small arms
from US manufacturers according to a statement made by US State
Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert. This news follows on Ukraine
being added by the Canadian government to that country’s Automatic
Firearms Country Control List (AFCCL), a special register of countries
to which Canada can export weapons.
The
Ukrainian Congress Committee of America (UCCA), the largest
representative body of Americans of Ukrainian descent, has issued a
statement welcoming the decisions by the United States and Canadian
governments on December 13, to allow exporters to apply for permits for
the commercial export of certain firearms, weapons, and devices from
U.S. and Canadian manufacturers. In the statement, the UCCA also renewed
its call for the United States to provide lethal defensive assistance
to Ukraine, citing U.S. special envoy, Ambassador Kurt Volker, who
recently remarked that 2017 was the deadliest year in Ukraine since
Russia invaded three years ago. According to UCCA, the Ukraine Freedom
Support Act, signed into law in 2014, specifically states the United
States would “assist the government of Ukraine in restoring its
sovereignty and territorial integrity in order to deter the government
of the Russian Federation from further destabilizing and invading
Ukraine and other independent countries.”
Also
commenting on the development was Senate Foreign Relations Committee
Chairman Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), who reiterated that “this decision was
supported by Congress in legislation that became law three years ago and
reflects our country’s longstanding commitment to Ukraine in the face
of ongoing Russian aggression.”
Co-founder
and co-chair of the Senate Ukraine Caucus, Senator Rob Portman (R-Ohio)
said that “this decision--while long overdue--will reverse the Obama
administration's de facto arms embargo against Ukraine and will finally
allow Ukraine to access the tools it needs to defend itself.”
U.S.
Representative Bill Pascrell, Jr. (NJ-09) also referred to this
decision this decision as “long overdue.” "With news reports of
increased aggression by Russian backed forces in Ukraine, I know our
ally in Ukraine will see this as a welcomed first step. However, I hope
it is not the last.”
More
than 10,300 people have been killed, and more than 1 million displaced,
since Russia invaded Ukraine in early 2014. Since the beginning of
2017, there have been over 2,000 recorded attacks by Russian forces
across the 'ceasefire' line in Ukraine, with dozens of civilians killed
this year alone. Since January 2017, Russian forces have also resumed
firing heavy artillery onto Ukrainian positions and deployed portable
rocket launchers among its invading forces.
The full statement is available here.
Established in 1940, UCCA unites and advocates in the name of over 20
fraternal, educational, religious, cultural, veterans and humanitarian
organizations in the Ukrainian American community. UCCA maintains local
all-volunteer chapters across the United States, with a national office
in New York City, as well as a Washington, D.C. bureau, the Ukrainian
National Information Service. UCCA is also a founding member of the
Ukrainian World Congress (ukrainianworldcongress.org),
the international assembly of Ukrainian public organizations
representing over 20 million people, as well as a founding member of the
Central and East European Coalition (ceecoalition.us), which coordinates the efforts of national ethnic organizations representing 20 million Americans.
Source: The Ukrainian Congress Committee of America
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