After A Barrage Of Attacks On Ukraine Last Night And Over 1000 Days Into Ukraine’s Fight For Freedom, Schumer Leads Legislation Calling For Administration To Transfer Additional Air Defense Systems To Ukraine; Reaffirm Continued Support For Our Ally In Crucial Time Of War
New York, N.Y. – Following President Trump announcing that Putin was planning a massive attack on Ukraine, Leader Schumer, along with National Security Ranking Members Senators Reed (D-RI), Shaheen (D-NH), Warner (D-VA), and Coons (D-DE), introduced 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 US support for Ukraine, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) 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.
“Donald Trump has to stop acting like a bystander, or even worse, an enabler in the brutal Russian-Ukrainian war,” said Leader Schumer. “Congress has already provided the needed authority and funding for the Trump administration to provide the Ukrainian people with the additional air defense capabilities, like interceptors for their PATRIOT systems to defend themselves against Putin’s illegal attacks. But yet – Trump appears to be prepared to look the other way as Putin carries out more aerial bombardment of civilians. We must do all we can to get Ukraine these very needed air defense systems immediately. Innocent lives are at stake.”
The legislation is co-sponsored by top Democratic leaders on the national security committees, including Ranking Member of the Armed Services Committee, Jack Reed (D-RI), Ranking Member of the Foreign Relations Committee, Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Vice Chair of the Select Committee On Intelligence, 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 so they can provide them for the defense of civilians in Ukraine.
Leader Schumer is pushing for this resolution to both help Ukraine defend itself against Russia’s brutal aerial bombardment, but also to strengthen their hand in ongoing direct discussions with Russia to secure a lasting peace.
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, Leader Schumer noted. 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.
Leader Schumer has been a strong proponent of pushing the United States to stand behind our ally, Ukraine, as they face the brutality of Putin and Russia. In February 2024, Leader Schumer visited President Zelenskyy in Lviv. Shortly after, he helped usher the bipartisan National Security Supplemental through Congress, which provided more than $60 billion in additional funding to Ukraine.
The full resolution text can be found here.
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