MA Rep. Keating on Zelensky address to Congress “emotion in the room was palpable”

Nearly every member of Congress was in the Capitol Visitor Center Congressional Auditorium to hear from President Volodymyr Zelensky speak Wednesday morning. Members of the Massachusetts delegation said they have never heard that room so quiet, particularly when Zelensky played the video of the innocent civilians who have been injured and killed.

Here’s how Congressman Bill Keating (D-MA-9) described the feeling in the room to Boston 25 News anchor Kerry Kavanaugh.

“I think the emotion in the room was palpable,” Keating said. “When President Zelensky, even before he spoke, you could see him start to tear up. And then, he made a strong case as to the kinship between the United States and Ukraine.”

“He evoked 9/11, the attack on Pearl Harbor and that very powerful ask at the end was ‘close the skies’ above Ukraine. The President [Biden] addressing that today but is not taking that step,” Kavanaugh said. “Do you agree with that?”

“Well, I think he is taking that step,” Keating responded. “The surface to air weapons will go even further than the stingers that are currently being used to take out Russian aircraft. And, they’ll be able to do that I believe, and military analysts believe, they’ll be able to do that in a very successful way,” Keating said. “The no-fly zone creates enormous problems,” he added. “In order to support a no-fly zone, U.S. or NATO aircraft, we have to defend from the ground. Russians have a very sophisticated air defense system, in Russia. We would have to take that out to be successful in sustaining that. And, of course, it’s inevitable that a Russian aircraft would be taken out even if we didn’t’ make that attack. And that would plunge us into a situation in which there would be an even greater number of innocent civilians losing their lives.”

Rep. Keating told Kavanaugh after hearing from Zelensky Wednesday morning, he led a committee hearing on Russian war crimes in Ukraine. He says he’s hearing from groups actively working to preserve evidence of these crimes. Much of which, Keating says, will be captured on cell phones.

“As the landscapes stands right now, do you believe the United States is doing everything it can to help Ukraine,” Kavanaugh asked.

“They’re doing everything they can,” Keating said. “And, there are activities I can tell you that are classified in terms of supplies and military assistance that would only be counterproductive to share openly. So, I think the U.S is doing, in the moment, what should be done without escalating this so there’d be even more civilian casualties. But as I said, things change not week to week, but day to day.”

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