Air raid siren blares from Ukraine legislator's phone during US Congress visit

As members of the Ukrainian parliament were pleading for aid on Capitol Hill, an air raid siren blared from one of their cell phones — a wrenching alert from the war-torn country back home.

One of the visitors reached into her bag, pulled out the phone and let the siren wail in the halls of Congress.

"Right now, you hear the sound?" said Anastasia Radina, a member of the Ukrainian Rada.

"This is the air raid alarm in the community where my son is staying right now," she said at a press conference this week after meeting with members of Congress. "I need you all to hear that."

The Ukrainian lawmakers met for a second day Wednesday with their counterparts in the US Congress, urging American allies to more quickly provide additional military aid — fighter jets, tanks and other support — and to impose stiffer economic sanctions on the attacking Russians they're trying to push from their country.

The visiting legislators, all women, with family back home, were warning the US that they do not trust negotiations underway with Russian President Vladimir Putin over ending the monthlong war. They impressed on the Americans that their country is at a crucial juncture in the fight against his assault.

"They desperately need more help both with military assistance and the tightening of sanctions," said Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, emerging from Wednesday's private meeting at the Capitol.

US lawmakers have been pressing President Joe Biden's administration to do more for Ukraine — providing their political support for sanctions on Russian leadership, a ban on Russian oil imports to the US, even declaring Putin should be investigated for war crimes.

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Biden on Wednesday announced that the US will send another $500 million in direct aid to Ukraine as the Russian attack continues. At the same time, the Senate was working to pass legislation suspending Russia's favored trade status — a measure that has been tangled over a related human rights provision, even though there is widespread support for suspending normal trade relations and halting Russian oil imports.

Lawmakers emerging from two days of meetings with the Ukrainian lawmakers kept up a largely unified front, with both Republicans and Democrats saying more funding would be needed, beyond the nearly $14 billion in military and humanitarian aid recently approved. Many are members of the Ukraine Caucus in the House and Senate, formed years ago to bolster the emerging democracy after it emerged from the former Soviet Union.

Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., described a sense of "buoyancy" in the room with the Ukrainian lawmakers Wednesday amid word of a possible Russian move away from Kyiv, even as he acknowledged the likely fighting still ahead.

"The Russians are losing this war, which is extraordinary," he said. "While the Ukrainians are looking at the scope of the loss of life, man, this has been a sight to see. A real inspiration. And there's a lot of support in Congress to continue to help them."

Yet there is concern in Congress that Biden's administration is too timid in its response and too slow to send needed military equipment. Some speak of an administration "Afghanistan Syndrome."

Republicans in particular, but also Democratic lawmakers, suggest there's a hesitancy from the US to push deeper into an overseas conflict with commitments of military aid after 20 years fighting the "forever war" in Afghanistan.

Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, said the Ukrainians she had met with in the past had used that term "Afghanistan Syndrome," but on Wednesday the Ukrainian legislators instead spoke with urgency about the military aid they need — with fighter jets at the top of the list.