Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I would respond to the member's question with emphatic agreement. We have to ask ourselves why Russian troops are in the Donbass and other parts of eastern Ukraine. The answer is that they were a last play on Mr. Putin's part to prevent Ukraine from slipping out of an orbit defined by the gravitational force of Russia and moving closer to the west. Left to its own devices, Ukraine would indeed seek closer economic, cultural and political integration with the west. I agree with your assessment of polling and public opinion. I think it is absolutely clear on that point.
Although I am a member of the Democratic Party, I was not happy when the Obama administration refused to consider Ukraine's request for defensive weapons. I think it sent a signal that we were not prepared to back Ukraine's desire to join the west—obviously not formally, not as a member of NATO, probably not for a long time as a member of the EU, but western-oriented.
I don't have a precise answer to your question, but I would say that Ukraine is such an important country by virtue of its size and strategic position. It ought to receive a much more sustained focus than it has tended to receive in the United States and elsewhere.