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Defense &
National Security

Defense &
National Security

The Big Story

Senate GOP dismayed by Trump, Zelensky war of words

Public comments from President Trump blaming Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for Russia’s invasion of his country are unnerving Senate Republicans, who have largely sought to avoid conflicts with the White House.

© GREG NASH

Trump’s escalating war of words with the Ukrainian leader comes as hawks in both parties plead with the president not to give Moscow a free pass in talks to end the bitter three-year conflict.

“I’m concerned with anything that would ultimately allow there to be a moral equivalency between Zelensky and Putin,” said Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), who visited Ukraine alongside a pair of Senate Democrats over the weekend and toured parts of suburban Kyiv that have been ravaged by fighting.

He also pushed back on Trump’s criticism of Zelensky on Wednesday, when he took to Truth Social and called the Ukrainian president a “dictator without elections” who was doing a “terrible job.”

“Zelensky is frustrated, but he’s also been the right head of state for the time. He’s kept a nation together focused on Russian occupiers, and I think we should give them a fair amount of credit for that work,” Tillis said.

Trump and Zelensky have a tumultuous relationship dating back to Trump’s first term when a phone call between the two led to Trump’s first impeachment.

A testy back-and-forth has quickly escalated after Ukraine was left out of talks between U.S. and Russian officials in Saudi Arabia earlier this week, drawing a rebuke from Zelensky.

Trump responded Tuesday with unfounded allegations that Zelensky “started” the war, with the Ukrainian leader responding Wednesday that the U.S. president was living in a “web of disinformation.” Trump sent his angry Truth Social post hours later.

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) said later in the day she had “tremendous admiration” for Zelensky, who has “courageously led his country” during the war.

The jabs between Trump and Zelensky have put Senate Republicans in a difficult position, given their sympathy for the plight of Kyiv and record of support for aid to the war-torn country. So far, criticism has been qualified, with calls to give Trump space to seek a breakthrough in the grinding war.

Read the full report at TheHill.com.

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