U.S. Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) says his recent trip to Poland and the Ukrainian border where he met with Ukrainian and Polish officials was "very powerful." He says he saw many women and children who had left homes and were crying, asking for help for the people they left behind.
"And in every case, there was a husband, brother or father who was left behind too," Portman said.
Portman says that experience left him wanting the U.S. and NATO to do more to help the Ukrainian people. Portman says that includes providing Ukraine with better equipment and MiG-29 planes as well as more immediate sanctions that cut Russia and its money off from the rest of the world.
Portman says more needs to be done to assist Europe so it can get away from depending on Russian oil supplies too.
Portman says protecting the U.S. against Russian cyberattacks must be a priority. He says Russia "totally miscalculated the resistance they were going to face." So, he says as Russia gets more desperate, it might try to increase cyberattacks on companies throughout the United States and Ohio. He says a report on the cybersecurity attacks by Russia will come out later this week.
“Russia’s already been up to this. They’ve got Russian gangs that are famous for attacking our critical infrastructure and then holding data ransom for payment," Portman said.
Portman, whose term in the U.S. Senate will end this year, says Congress just passed a bill that will help prevent future attacks but he says more needs to be done to protect the government’s data.
