WASHINGTON >> Hours after President Donald Trump announced that Ukraine agreed to a 30-day ceasefire, a bipartisan group of senators took to the Senate floor to urge support for Ukraine.

The senators confirmed reports that the peace talks between Ukraine and the United States restored military support and intelligence sharing with Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has yet to agree to the ceasefire.

Sen. Thom Tillis, a Republican from North Carolina, said he chose to speak Tuesday to “reinforce that Ukraine needs our help, Europe needs to step up and Putin is the personification of evil.”

He spent the next 10 minutes reinforcing those points.

Tillis co-chairs the U.S. Senate NATO Observer Group with Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, a Democrat from New Hampshire. He has been an outspoken critic of Russia over the past three years.

Shaheen organized the group of Democrats and Republican senators to speak out for Ukraine as Ukrainian and United States officials gathered in Saudi Arabia.

“I think that strong bipartisan support has been there because we understand that this is a fight for democracy,” Shaheen said.

Shaheen reminded her colleagues that North Korea is fighting with Russia, Iran is providing missiles and China is giving support.

“They’re watching what America does here,” she said.

The group spoke for more than an hour and included Sens. Mitch McConnell, Lisa Murkowski, Peter Welch, Susan Collins, Chris Coons and Michael Bennet.

Murkowski, a Republican from Alaska, reminded senators that Ukraine isn’t asking for manpower from the United States.

She said Ukrainians are asking for ammunition, arms, logistics and satellite imaging for intelligence gathering.

“We should be proud as Americans that we have helped to make a difference,” Murkowski said. “We have helped Ukraine push back the Russian advance. It has prevented Kyiv from falling to Russia. It has helped Ukrainian defenders hold the line there.”

She added that every weapon system, ammunition, radar and drone has served as lifelines to the Ukrainian people.

Coons, a Democrat from Delaware, added that American troops aren’t dying on the front lines, but Ukrainians defending “their country, democracy and way of life.”

Senators applauded European leaders for stepping up and helping Ukraine following a contentious meeting between Trump, Vice President JD Vance and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy two weeks ago at the White House.

But Tillis also noted that European countries were $2 trillion behind on their commitments to NATO.

“What would have happened if our NATO alliance was stronger, if everyone met the bare minimums for support,” Tillis asked. “What if $2 trillion more would have been spent? Would that have been enough to possibly persuade Putin from invading Ukraine?”

Tillis said Ukraine is a “doormat to Europe.” If he wins there, he will start chipping away at the rest of the continent. Tillis said that’s already happening.

There was a consensus among the senators that “Putin is evil.”

Tillis listed off the things he blames Putin for:

• 80,000 dead service members

•13,000 dead civilians

• 400,000 wounded service members

• 30,000 injured civilians.

“This is the carnage that the Ukrainian people are experiencing every single day, 24/7, 365 days since the invasion began three years ago,” Tillis added.