Lawmakers are watching President Donald Trump’s meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy closely and are ready to pounce with hard-hitting sanctions against Moscow if need be.
Trump, Zelenskyy and a slew of European leaders are set to meet at the White House on Monday, just days after the president’s summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Anchorage, Alaska.
How that meeting went depends on what side of the aisle lawmakers are on, with Republicans lauding Trump for seeking a diplomatic end to the war, while Democrats accused the president of legitimizing Putin and giving him a grand stage.
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Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told Fox News Digital in a statement that “America’s strength and leadership” was on full display under Trump.
“European nations are also stepping up to join us in this show of strength to Vladimir Putin,” the Wyoming Republican said. “The killing needs to stop. A longstanding, verifiable peace between Ukraine and Russia is going to be good for Ukraine, Russia, Europe, and the United States.”
But some lawmakers agree that, should a deal not be reached, crippling sanctions are the next best step.
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Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., commended Trump for “dogged determination” to find a peaceful end to the war, and to engage with “all parties in a way his predecessor refused to do.” But, he signaled that the Senate was standing by to hit Moscow with sanctions if needed.
“As peace talks continue today in Washington, the U.S. Senate stands ready to provide President Trump any economic leverage needed to keep Russia at the table to negotiate a just and lasting peace in Ukraine,” Thune said on X.
Last month, Trump declared that Putin would have a 50-day deadline to reach a ceasefire agreement, which the president recently shortened to “10 or 12” days. While no such immediate agreement appeared to be reached between the two leaders, the Trump administration said that the Russian leader agreed to security agreements for Ukraine.
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Still, Senate Democrats were not satisfied with the end of the meeting and ahead of Trump’s second high-stakes summit with Zelenskyy and demanded that Congress move ahead with a sanctions package.
Sen. Jean Shaheen, the top ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said if Trump doesn’t act, “Congress must do so decisively by passing crushing sanctions when we return in the coming weeks.”
“I will also continue to press for my bipartisan legislation to bolster Ukraine’s defense and negotiating position with additional security assistance and my bipartisan bill to go after Russia’s enablers in China,” the New Hampshire Democrat said. “There is no appetite in Congress to entertain a relationship with Russia while Putin continues to kidnap Ukrainian children and murder innocent civilians.”
And as for the meeting between Trump and Zelenskyy, lawmakers wanted to see a path toward peace.
“The interests of the American people should come first, and that means finding a path to a negotiated peace,” Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “Peace is also in the best interests of the Ukrainian people, who have been unjustly used as pawns in a proxy war even as they heroically resisted Russian aggression. One way or another, Americans should not send one dollar more to prolong this disastrous conflict.”
And Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., said in a statement to Fox News Digital that he was “glad that President Trump is engaging directly with President Zelenskyy and European leaders at the White House today to discuss Russia’s war in Ukraine.”
“Any decisions regarding next steps must involve these key leaders — they can’t be dictated by Putin’s bloodthirsty regime,” he said.
