Former Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) warned in a speech Thursday that U.S. negotiators trying to end the war in Ukraine are headed for a “Russia wins, America loses” headline if they agree to a deal that achieves only “illusory peace.”
McConnell made his comments in reaction to recent events, notably President Trump’s public scolding of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House and a Kremlin statement that the Trump administration’s foreign policy pivot on the war “largely coincides with our vision.”
“When American officials court the favor of an adversary at the expense of allies … When they mock our friends to impress an enemy … They reveal their embarrassing naivete,” McConnell said in remarks Thursday while accepting the Star of Ukraine Award, the U.S.-Ukraine Foundation’s highest honor.
“Unless we change course, the outcome we’re headed for today is the one we can least afford: a headline that reads ‘Russia wins, America loses,'” he said.
“An illusory peace that shreds America’s credibility, leaves Ukraine under threat, weakens our alliances, and emboldens our enemies,” he said.
McConnell invoked failed efforts to appease Nazi Germany before World War II, quoting President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s warning that “no man can tame a tiger into a kitten by stroking it.”
He reiterated that sending military aid to Ukraine is far less costly than becoming embroiled in a war in Europe.
And he questioned whether Trump’s advisers are fully committed to military deterrence and the principle of “peace through strength.”
“Too many of those who use it — particularly among the president’s advisers — don’t seem ready to summon the resources and national will it requires,” he said.
“We have a lot of work to do on this front. The ‘resolve of the West’ will require that we actually stand with the West. Instead of mocking European allies and partners, it’ll mean building a stronger trans-Atlantic alliance,” he argued.
Trump has repeatedly criticized other member countries of NATO for not spending more on their defense budgets, and members of the president’s national security team disparaged the military capabilities of European allies on a group chat on Signal, which included a journalist for The Atlantic.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth slammed Europe for “free-loading” on the United States’s military strength in the Red Sea, calling it “PATHETIC.”
