; Whereas NATO— (1) leads operations in Kosovo and other countries in the Mediterranean region to maintain peace and stability; (2) supports operations around the world, including in Europe and the African Union, to advance priorities of the Alliance; and (3) facilitates a training mission in Iraq to develop the capacity of the security infrastructure of Iraq; Whereas, since the further invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation on February 24, 2022, which followed the illegal annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation in 2014, the Alliance is the strongest and most united it has ever been; Whereas, as the Russian Federation illegally attacks the sovereignty of Ukraine, individual members of the Alliance have contributed essential military and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine, including through the Ukraine Defense Contact Group established by the United States; Whereas, in response to the brutal war on Ukraine by the Russian Federation, NATO enhanced its presence on the eastern flank of the Alliance by reinforcing existing multinational battlegroups and establishing new multinational battlegroups in Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, and Slovakia; Whereas efforts by NATO to bolster the security of the eastern flank and to counter aggression by the Russian Federation followed efforts in 2016 by establishing NATO forward presences in the northeast and southeast of the Alliance; Whereas the Alliance recognizes the strategic importance of the Black Sea region, which the Russian Federation has tried to weaponize, including by attempting to block shipments of grain from Ukraine through the Black Sea, bringing the world to the brink of a global food security crisis; Whereas, for the first time in history, the 2022 NATO Strategic Concept recognized that the stated ambitions and coercive policies of the People's Republic of China challenge the interests of the Alliance