YAVORIV, Ukraine-Staff delegates from the House Appropriations Committee and Senator Lindsey Graham's office toured the International Peacekeeping and Security Center, Oct. 10, to observe and assess the mission, priorities and resource requirements of the Joint Multinational Training Group-Ukraine.
The visitors included Jim Kulikowski, Republican Deputy Staff Director and Shalanda Young, Democratic Deputy Staff Directors of the House Appropriations Committee. Also visiting the IPCS were Richard Perry, Chief of Staff for Senator Graham and Matt Rimkunas, Legislative Director for Senator Graham.
JMTG-U is a multinational effort to reinforce defensive skills of the Ukrainian Ground Forces in order to increase their capacity for self-defense. The staff members were briefed on the ongoing progress of the JMTG-U followed by a tour of the improved infrastructure and sustainment operations.
Young and Kulikowski have broad responsibilities to inform members of the Appropriations Committee and Congress about what programs U.S. dollars are funding and to ensure taxpayer dollars are being spent appropriately.
"There is a tremendous interest in Ukraine in Congress and making sure the U.S. is doing what it needs to do to ensure the success here," said Kulikowski. "Ukraine is one of the most important areas that we're (America) increasing our involvement in and it's really important to make sure our level of support is adequate to the task we're undertaking."
Kulikowski said his initial thoughts on the IPSC is that it is developing very well in the short amount of time that American and NATO forces have been on ground.
"It's a little bit more of a complex operation then I think than we realize, bringing in so many partners from NATO and around the world, but it looks like an awful lot of effort has gone into figuring out how to coordinate to make it effective and it's pretty impressive," he said.
Young and Kulikowski ensure long-term goals within Ukraine are met and the right people are held accountable to ensure those goals are achieved.
"Coming here was a way to complete the picture of what U.S. support is bringing to Ukraine," said Young. "We will take this information back to members of Congress and they have to make an assessment of what the appropriate dollars will be for long-term success."
Kulikowski added, "We get a sense of what the longer-term mission should be and hopefully are able to track that and hold commanders accountable to a certain extent to make sure the goals are being met," he said. "We have to make sure the dollars stay with the mission and the mission stays with the dollars."
As staff who work directly for a senator, Perry and Rimkunas came to the IPSC to learn methods in which America can continue to help Ukraine generate better trained forces to better protect their sovereignty.
"Senator Graham is anxious to learn ways in which we can further help Ukraine defend themselves," said Rimkunas. "He has made Ukraine's territorial sovereignty a priority and it's really important to come here to see what work the Americans and other countries have done."
"It's clear a lot of work has been done here in a short amount of time," he added.
The visit to JMTG-U was part of a larger tour of U.S. Army Europe's area of responsibility.
JMTG-U's primary goal is to directly train Ukrainian soldiers in the near term while helping Ukrainian Land Forces build a sustainable and enduring combat training center.
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