Sen. Lindsey Graham fretted that President Trump’s envoys to negotiate an end to the bloody Ukraine war are “overestimating” Russian tyrant Vladimir Putin’s “willingness to end the war.”
Graham (R-SC) expressed hope that Trump will sign a bipartisan sanctions package to tighten the screws on Russia if Putin continues to rebuff peace proposals.
“I think Putin’s going to continue to take the Donbas by force until we increase pressure,” Graham predicted on NBC’s “Meet the Press” Sunday.
“We’re going to be Lucy with the football if we don’t watch it. We keep engaging Russia. We keep engaging, trying to lure Putin to the peace table, and he rebuffs all of our efforts.”
Russia has rejected multiple peace proposals that the US helped craft with input from Ukraine, including the refined 19-point plan last month.
Throughout the negotiations, Putin has made clear he wants total control over the Donbas, where Ukraine still holds strategic cities such as Kramatorsk and Sloviansk, despite Moscow controlling a majority of the disputed region.
“There are offers on the table right now to basically stop this war at its current lines of contact…which include substantial parts of Ukrainian territory, including Crimea, which they’ve controlled since 2014,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Vanity Fair in a piece published last week.
“The Russians continue to turn it down,” Rubio added. “You do start to wonder, well, maybe what this guy wants is the entire country.”
NBC anchor Kristen Welker pointed out Rubio’s assessment of Russia to Graham, who appeared to agree with his former Senate colleague.
Graham urged Trump to ramp up against Russia if it slaps down the current peace negotiations.
“If he says no this time, here’s what I hope President Trump will do: Sign my bill that has 85 co-sponsors and puts tariffs on countries like China, who buy cheap Russian oil,” Graham said.
“Make Russia a state sponsor of terrorism for kidnapping 20,000 Ukrainian kids. And most importantly, seize ships that are carrying sanctioned Russian oil like you’re doing in Venezuela. If Putin says no, we need to dramatically change the game, including giving Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine,” he added.
“I would go all in if Putin says no.”
Trump has wavered on his approach to ending the war in Ukraine. Early on in his second term, Trump railed against Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for lacking the “cards” to justify his stance against Russia trying to take over his country.
Then in September, following a summit with Putin in Alaska, Trump lashed out at the Russian leader, musing that his country was a “paper tiger.” Weeks later, he reverted to expressing skepticism about Ukraine.
US and Russian negotiators met in Miami on Saturday to continue talks on how to end the war.
Russian negotiator Kirill Dmitriev praised the progress made during the talks.
“The discussions are proceeding constructively,” Dmitriev told reporters, per Politico. “They began earlier and will continue today, and will also continue tomorrow.”
