GOP senators urge Trump to salvage negotiations with Zelensky despite 'disappointing' blowup

Republican lawmakers are urging President Trump to salvage negotiations with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in hopes of reaching a peace deal that halts Russian encroachment and possibly gives the United States access to Ukraine’s rich mineral wealth.

GOP senators say they hope Trump and Zelensky can put Friday’s heated exchange in the Oval Office behind them, recognizing that continued U.S. support for Ukraine is critical to maintaining Kyiv’s leverage in peace talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“The deterioration of that meeting was highly unfortunate given the stakes involved. There is no doubt that Putin was the aggressor in Ukraine and launched a brutal, unprovoked attack,” said Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Susan Collins (R-Maine), a leading Republican voice on national security issues.

“I do hope we can come up with a just and lasting peace for Ukraine, but we can’t forget who started this war,” she said.

While some of Trump’s closest allies want Zelensky to apologize to the president before receiving more U.S. support, other Republicans are trying to de-escalate the situation.

They recognize the outcome of peace talks could have major implications for U.S. leadership of NATO and the nation’s long-standing policy of containing Russian power and influence.

“I just hope that they can get things back on track and that everybody will redouble their efforts. This is a historic opportunity, potentially historic agreement,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) said.

“Obviously, last week was a missed opportunity,” he added. “But I think if people are operating in good faith, I think we can get things back” on track.

Sen. Jim Justice (R-W.Va.) said Friday’s meeting at the White House was “disappointing to say the least,” but he blamed Zelensky for not being more deferential to Trump in the Oval Office.

“I hope and pray we can get it worked out,” he said, but he argued the “awkward situation” was “prompted wholeheartedly” by Zelensky, not Trump nor Vice President Vance.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), on the other hand, had the harshest criticism of Trump’s dismissive attitude of Zelensky, declaring the brutal putdowns of Zelensky by Trump and Vance in front of the world had left her “sick to my stomach.”

“This week started with administration officials refusing to acknowledge that Russia started the war in Ukraine. It ends with a tense, shocking conversation in the Oval Office and whispers from the White House that they may try to end all U.S. support for Ukraine,” she wrote on the social platform X.

“I know foreign policy is not for the faint of heart, but right now, I am sick to my stomach as the administration appears to be walking away from our allies and embracing Putin, a threat to democracy and U.S. values around the world.”

Republicans were surprised by another bombshell Monday when Reuters reported the Trump administration is working on a plan to ease sanctions on Russia as Trump hopes to restore ties with Moscow.

It was only three years ago that Russia sanctioned multiple members of Congress for supporting Ukraine, including Collins and nearly 400 members of the House.

GOP lawmakers were also put on defense by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s order for the U.S. Cyber Command to stop offensive operations against Russia. While it’s not unprecedented for a president to ease up on hostilities during peace negotiations, Democrats accused Trump of disarming unilaterally.

“Donald Trump is so desperate to earn the affection of a thug like Vladimir Putin, he appears to be giving him a free pass as Russia continues to launch cyber operations and ransomware attacks against critical American infrastructure, threatening our economic and national security,” Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) said.

“It is a critical strategic mistake for Donald Trump to unilaterally disarm against Putin,” he declared.

Senate Republicans don’t think Zelensky handled criticism from Trump and Vance well, but they don’t want to let the setback obliterate the prospect of a peace deal that would allow Ukraine as much territorial sovereignty as possible and deter future aggression.

Several GOP senators facing reelection next year warned that Putin remains a bad actor and aggressor, despite efforts by the Trump administration to thaw U.S.-Russia relations in hopes of bringing the Russian president to the negotiating table.

“Putin routinely throws people who disagree with him out of windows or blows up the planes they are in. He has not just invaded Ukraine. He is killing anyone who disagrees with him,” Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) posted on X.

Cassidy told The Hill last week that “Russia’s clearly the aggressor” and quoted from the 1946 Nuremberg trials of senior Nazi officials to assert that starting a war of aggression is “the supreme international crime.”

Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), who also faces reelection next year, acknowledged Russia is the aggressor but tried to defend Trump’s entreaties to Putin by arguing he needs to play the role of dealmaker.

“Russia is the aggressor. Clearly, they’re the adversary in this particular case, but somebody has to stand in the middle and try to find a middle ground to get to a ceasefire to stop the killing,” Rounds told NewsNation’s Chris Stirewalt on “The Hill Sunday.” “I think that’s where the president wants to be in this case.”

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said Friday’s Oval Office meeting “obliterated” the work he and others had done to set the table for a U.S.-Ukraine minerals deal that could have given Trump more incentive to guarantee Ukraine’s security.

But Trump appeared little inclined to make any security guarantees for Ukraine, and he suggested in the White House meeting that Zelensky could be risking World War III by pushing for them.

Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) said a minerals deal with Ukraine and broader peace accord with Russia is still salvageable.

Other Republicans said it’s time to pull the plug on U.S. military support for Ukraine.

“I’ve argued for a long time that it doesn’t make any economic sense to borrow money from China to send it to Ukraine, so I’m glad that he stood up to him and let him know that really there’s not an unlimited pile of money we can give him; it’s not good for our economy,” Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said. “Ultimately, there’s going to have to be a peace settlement. Had this been negotiated three years ago, I think Ukraine was in a stronger position three years ago.”

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