Former Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) issued a rare public warning to President Trump on Sunday, arguing that “appeasing” Russia will not bring peace to Ukraine — and sharply questioning the direction of the emerging U.S.-brokered peace deal.
McConnell, responding on social media to reports that Trump’s foreign policy team is pressuring Ukraine to accept tough concessions, said the strategy is misguided and ignores the reality of the war.
“@POTUS is right that Biden’s weakness emboldened enemies like Putin,” McConnell wrote. “But those who think pressuring the victim and appeasing the aggressor will bring peace are kidding themselves.”
He challenged Trump’s approach directly, asking: “Which difficult concessions are we pressing Russia to make? How does limiting Ukraine’s defenses against future aggression increase the likelihood of enduring peace?”
McConnell’s comments mark one of the strongest critiques yet from a senior Republican as Trump pushes for a rapid resolution to the conflict — potentially one that shifts the burden of compromise heavily onto Kyiv.
“The price and stability of peace matters, and our credibility is on the line. Allies and adversaries are watching: Will America hold firm against aggression or will we reward it?”
Under the emerging deal, Russia would secure recognition for its control of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions — as well Crimea, which it annexed in 2014 — and would keep the swaths of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia it now controls.
Ukraine would have to shrink the size of its army, NATO troops would be prohibited from deploying to Ukraine and Kyiv would be barred from expanding its alliance with NATO.
McConnell, the chair of the Senate Appropriations Defense Subcommittee, also criticized the emerging deal in a statement Friday.
“Putin has spent the entire year trying to play President Trump for a fool. If Administration officials are more concerned with appeasing Putin than securing real peace, then the President ought to find new advisors. Rewarding Russian butchery would be disastrous to America’s interests,” McConnell said last week.
Additionally, Senate Armed Services Committee Chair Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) criticized the early outlines of the deal the United States is attempting to broker, which some opponents have said is largely based on a 28-point plan crafted by the Kremlin.
“This so-called ‘peace plan’ has real problems, and I am highly skeptical it will achieve peace. Ukraine should not be forced to give up its lands to one of the world’s most flagrant war criminals in Vladimir Putin,” Wicker said in a statement.
“The size and disposition of Ukraine’s armed forces is a sovereign choice for its government and people,” he added.