Republican Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick (PA) and Dan Crenshaw (TX) are in Ukraine where they became the first American lawmakers to visit the reopened U.S. Embassy in Kyiv.
The politicians shared the report of their surprise visit to Ukraine on Tuesday.
“The flag is flying once again, and it was very special for me because that’s where I worked when I was in Kyiv,” Fitzpatrick said.
He also called the embassy’s reopening “a very important symbolic sign for Ukrainians.”
On Sunday, Pentagon officials were reportedly considering plans to deploy members of the U.S. Special Forces to guard the nation’s reopened embassy in Kyiv as Russia continues its military invasion of Ukraine.
The report comes as the White House remains concerned over American diplomats in Ukraine, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal.
“We are in close touch with our colleagues at the State Department about potential security requirements now that they have resumed operations at the embassy in Kyiv,” Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby said in a statement.
“But no decisions have been made, and no specific proposals have been debated at senior levels of the department about the return of U.S. military members to Ukraine for that or any other purpose,” he added.
On Wednesday, the State Department announced that it had raised the American flag at the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv after moving operations three months earlier.
“Today we are officially resuming operations at the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv. The Ukrainian people, with our security assistance, have defended their homeland in the face of Russia’s unconscionable invasion, and, as a result, the Stars and Stripes are flying over the Embassy once again,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement on Wednesday.
“We stand proudly with, and continue to support, the government and people of Ukraine as they defend their country from the Kremlin’s brutal war of aggression,” he added.
The news also comes after the Senate passed an additional $40 billion aid package last week for Ukraine. The measure passed 89-11, with President Joe Biden signing the agreement.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) also headlined a congressional delegation to Ukraine and Poland earlier in May, The Daily Wire reported.
Pelosi is the most senior American official to visit the war-torn Eastern European nation since Russia began its invasion more than two months ago. The lawmaker said in a statement that the delegation had a “profound and solemn visit” with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, in which they “conveyed respect and gratitude” for his leadership, as well as “our admiration of the Ukrainian people for their courage in the fight against Russia’s diabolical invasion.”
“Our Members were proud to deliver the message that additional American support is on the way, as we work to transform President Biden’s strong funding request into a legislative package,” the statement added.
The European Union and more than a dozen nations have reopened embassies in Kyiv after three months of invasion as Russian President Vladimir Putin refocuses his attacks on the eastern part of Ukraine.