John —

If you’ve been reading my emails over the past few years, you know that I believe we’re engaged in a global struggle against the rise of autocracy — and how critical it is that democracy wins, both at home and abroad. This weekend, I joined a trip that brought the stakes home in a way nothing else could.

I wanted to tell you about my trip to Kyiv, Ukraine four days ago. Along with Speaker Pelosi and three of my House colleagues, we met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, as the first Congressional delegation to meet with him since the outset of the war.

A little over two months ago, Russian President Vladimir Putin — in an act of reckless aggression against his democratic neighbor — launched an invasion of Ukraine.

This war has not gone as Putin expected. And that is largely because of the indomitable spirit and resilience of the Ukrainian people. Even in the relative calm of Kyiv, where Putin’s forces were repelled just weeks earlier, the cost of this war to the Ukrainian people was evident. As was the absolute necessity that we support Ukraine in its struggle for freedom.

The war has led to a humanitarian and economic crisis throughout Ukraine. Cities have been leveled, millions of refugees have fled in advance of the Russian army, and those trapped in war zones in the East are struggling to survive. And war crimes, including the deliberate murder of civilians and the rape of Ukrainian women and girls, have been well documented.

That’s why a delegation of us, led by Speaker Nancy Pelosi, went to Ukraine to meet with President Zelenskyy in Kyiv on Saturday.

John, it was an experience I will never forget. In many areas of the city, the streets of Kyiv were buzzing with activity, as people tried to go about their lives, even as cruise missiles continued to fall on the city with an unnerving randomness. In other neighborhoods, there was an eerie quiet, and all over the city a curfew sent people indoors by sundown. Through it all, the Ukrainian people remain unbowed.

I had never met President Zelenskyy before seeing him in Kyiv under these extraordinary circumstances. But I was already well familiar with him before the war — he was, of course, the same Zelenskyy that I prosecuted Trump for trying to blackmail over military aid during the first impeachment trial. Like so many others, I have been awed by his courage and leadership. Underestimated by many, Putin most of all, he has proven himself to be a rare leader, rallying his nation under impossible circumstances. Meeting him in person, he projected a calm that was all the more remarkable for the dangerous and chaotic situation all around him.

We met with President Zelenskyy and his top advisors for three hours. We heard their requests for more humanitarian, economic, and military assistance. And we promised we would not only hear them, but also act on them as quickly as possible when we returned to Washington, DC.

The urgency is real, as the war enters a new phase and Ukraine needs the long range artillery and anti-ship munitions to hold the Russians at bay. Tragically, the war is far from over, as Ukrainians fight hour by hour to prevent Russia from advancing in the East and claiming more territory and lives. But we can help it come to a more rapid end, by supplying Ukraine with the assistance it needs, and further constricting the economic sanctions on Putin’s Russia. Ordinary Russians must be made to feel the murderous folly of their Kremlin dictator.

This war is just the latest front in the struggle against oppression around the world. Ukraine is a young democracy, and that was something that their authoritarian neighbor could not abide. This was an attack on Ukraine, yes, but also against the very idea that a free people get to chart their own destiny.

That’s why what happens in Ukraine matters. Right now, authoritarians are watching what is occurring, and wondering how the world will respond. So far, we have stood united and stronger than anyone expected. But the struggle is nowhere near the end - that much was clear in Kyiv. And what happens there will echo across Europe and the world, for decades to come.

We all have a role to play in protecting democracy at home and abroad. We became the arsenal of democracy is the 1930s and 1940s, and we must do so again today. I’m so thankful for what you’ve done and will continue to do.

Talk soon.

— Adam