Lawmakers reacted mostly along party lines Wednesday to news of the Trump administration’s apparent concessions to Russia ahead of peace talks on the war in Ukraine.
President Donald Trump made clear Wednesday that America’s nearly three years of efforts to isolate Russian President Vladimir Putin over the Ukraine war are over and its decades-long security partnership with Europe was entering a new phase.
Trump announced on social media that he had spoken with Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday and that peace talks over Ukraine would begin “immediately.” Trump also said he and Putin may soon visit each other’s countries.
While some lawmakers acknowledged the need to press ahead with seeking an end to the years-old conflict, others accused the administration of undercutting Ukraine’s negotiating position before talks start in earnest.
Hegseth’s pivot
Earlier on Wednesday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth — addressing the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, a group of nations that have militarily supported Kyiv — stated that the Trump administration has rejected some of Ukraine’s key goals ahead of peace talks.
Hegseth said returning Ukraine’s borders to those in place prior to Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea and the onset of Russian paramilitary warfare in eastern Ukraine is “an illusory goal.” The Biden administration never stated such a position about its partner’s territory.
In addition, Hegseth said, it is not “realistic” for Ukraine to ever join NATO, a security guarantee that Kyiv has long sought and on which NATO has not previously closed the door.
Hegseth also said any military force that would keep the peace following an agreement between Russia and Ukraine to cease hostilities would be manned by non-NATO European and non-European troops, with no U.S. forces involved.
And, he said, Europe and not America should pay the “overwhelming share” of the costs of any more weapons for Ukraine or the scores of billions of dollars needed to rebuild the war-torn country.
Hegseth did not disclose any expected concessions from Russia, but he did say Ukraine’s Western allies can exert leverage over Russia by hurting Moscow’s energy economy through expanded production and sanctions on its energy sector.
Hegseth’s remarks broke sharply from America’s commitment, since World War II, to help Europe shoulder a large portion of its security burden.
“We’re also here today to directly and unambiguously express that stark strategic realities prevent the United States of America from being primarily focused on the security of Europe,” Hegseth said, citing the need to deter China and defend the U.S. homeland as higher U.S. priorities.
“The United States remains committed to the NATO alliance and to the defense partnership with Europe, full stop, but the United States will no longer tolerate an imbalanced relationship which encourages dependency.”
Push for peace
Trump said on social media Wednesday that he had “just spoken” with Putin and they agreed to begin talks on Ukraine “immediately.” Putin’s spokesman told reporters the call had lasted an hour and a half.
Trump also posted that he talked to Zelenskyy, who Trump said also “wants to make PEACE.” Trump sounded an optimistic note about a potential meeting between the two sides on Friday at the Munich Security Conference.
“It is time to stop this ridiculous War, where there has been massive, and totally unnecessary, DEATH and DESTRUCTION,” Trump said.
Trump also announced he has directed several top administration officials to “lead the negotiations” for the American side: Secretary of State Marco Rubio, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, White House national security adviser Mike Waltz, White House special envoy Steve Witkoff.
Anger and silence
In interviews on Capitol Hill on Wednesday, Republicans were mostly supportive of the administration’s moves and Democrats were irate.
Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., who serves on the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee and co-chairs the Senate NATO Observer Group, said: “Somebody’s got to start talking, because thousands of people are dying.”
But Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, called the Trump administration’s emerging proposal an “absolutely abhorrent surrender and a betrayal of Ukraine. “
Some top Senate Republicans declined to comment on the developments when asked directly about them.
These included Sen.. Roger Wicker of Mississippi, chair of the Armed Services Committee, and Sen. Jim Risch of Idaho, chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Other GOP lawmakers have yet to weigh in, including Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, an ardent Ukraine supporter who chairs the Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee.
A third group of Republican members said late Wednesday morning that they had not yet seen Hegseth’s remarks.
Public critiques from congressional Republicans were few and far between.
Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., a member of the House Armed Services Committee, was an anomaly. He seemed to suggest on “X” that the Trump administration had caved to Putin.
“We should have moral clarity who started this war, who is bombing cities indiscriminately and who our real friend here is,” Bacon wrote. “There are consequences of rewarding the invader even if its leader foolishly led over 700,000 of its citizens to slaughter.”
By contrast, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a strong supporter for three years of Ukraine’s defense, said he was not opposed to Trump’s bid, though he had not seen all the details.
Ukraine is “not going to stop fighting if they don’t think they have that deal,” said Graham, who chairs the Senate Budget Committee and serves on the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee. “I think there’s a deal to be had.”
‘Art of the Deal’
Democrats, meanwhile, assailed Hegseth for conceding negotiating points to Russia without getting anything, they said, in return.
Several of these Democrats said that publicly rewarding Russia with one-sided concessions is not a smart negotiating tactic.
By stating up front that neither U.S. nor NATO troops will be part of a peacekeeping force and that NATO will not admit Ukraine, the Trump administration is “undercutting the position to negotiate an agreement that will be fair to the Ukrainians,” said Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island, the top Democrat on the Armed Services Committee.
Reed also said the Trump administration is removing another point of leverage with the Russians by eliminating the FBI section that deals with sanctions against Russian oligarchs.
“He’s just giving this all away, and we haven’t seen anything in return,” Reed said.
Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., the ranking member of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee and a senior member of the Foreign Relations Committee, called Hegseth’s remarks “a terrible way to negotiate.”
If Hegseth “thinks it’s helpful to Ukrainian security to make proactive concessions like this on their behalf, I hope he’ll go back and read ‘The Art of the Deal,’ because this is no way to negotiate with or for a close partner and ally,” Coons said, in a reference to Trump’s book on negotiating.
Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn., the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, said Ukraine should be “front and center” at the negotiating table.
“They’re the ones doing the dying,” Himes said. “So they should be the first people speaking, not the United States.”
Briana Reilly and John T. Bennett contributed to this report.
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