US senators criticize President Donald Trump's approach To end the Russian-Ukrainian war, he said Saturday that the peace plan he is pushing Kyiv to accept will only reward Moscow for its aggression and send a message to other leaders who have threatened their neighbors.
28-point peace plan was developed by the Trump administration and the Kremlin without the participation of Ukraine. He agrees with Many Russian demands have been flatly rejected by Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky on dozens of occasions, including giving up large chunks of territory. Trump says he wants Ukraine to accept the plan by the end of next week.
Senators' opposition to the plan follows criticism from other U.S. lawmakers, including some Republicans, none of whom have the power to block it. The senators speaking at the international security conference in Canada included a Democrat, an independent and a Republican who does not plan to seek re-election next year.
“It rewards aggression. It's pure and simple. There is no ethical, legal, moral, political justification for Russia laying claim to eastern Ukraine,” Independent Maine Senator Angus King said during a panel discussion at the International Security Forum in Halifax in Canada.
King, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, compared the proposal to the Munich Pact between British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain and Adolf Hitler in 1938, a historic failed act of appeasement.
Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina said Sen. Mitch McConnell, the former Senate GOP leader, did not go far enough in his criticism. McConnell said in a statement Friday that “if administration officials are more concerned with appeasing Putin than ensuring real peace, then the president should find new advisers.”
“We shouldn't do anything that makes (Putin) feel like he's won here. Frankly, I think what Mitch said is not what needs to be said,” Tillis said. Tillis announced earlier this year that he would not seek re-election shortly after he clashed with the Trump administration over a tax and spending package.
New Hampshire Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, called it “outrageous.”
Putin welcomed the proposal late Friday, saying it “could become the basis of a final peace settlement” if the United States could win agreement from Ukraine and its European allies.
Zelensky, in his address, did not reject the plan outright but insisted on fair treatment, promising to “calmly work” with Washington and other partners in what he called “truly one of the most difficult moments in our history.”
Now in its 17th year, approximately 300 people gather annually for the Halifax International Security Forum, held at the Westin Hotel in Halifax. The forum attracts military officials, U.S. senators, diplomats and academics, but this year the Trump administration suspended participation of U.S. Defense Department officials in think tank events, including the Halifax Forum on International Security.
A large number of US senators made the trip this year in part because of strained relations between Canada and the US, which Trump alienated America's neighbor with its trade war and insistence that Canada become 51st US state. Many Canadians are now refusing to travel to the US, and border states such as Shaheen's New Hampshire are facing a dramatic crisis. decline in tourism.
“There is a real concern about this tension. This is one of the reasons why such a large delegation is here,” Shaheen said. “I will continue to object to what the president does with regard to tariffs and his comments because not only do they hurt Canada and our relationship, but I think they hurt the entire world. They show a lack of respect for sovereign nations.”
