In a seismic shift against Trump’s favorable views of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Trump’s overt lie that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is “a dictator,” GOP Senators Roger Wicker (R-Mississippi) and John Kennedy (R-Louisiana) publicly spoke out against Trump’s views.
Senator Wicker, the Ranking Member on the Senate Armed Services Committee, told a reporter that Russian President Vladimir Putin is a criminal who is not to be trusted in peace negotiations about Russia’s war on Ukraine.
When asked about the way the U.S. conducted peace negotiations with Russia in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and specifically how the U.S. excluded Ukraine and America’s NATO allies from the talks, Senator Wicker said Ukrainians should “definitely” be at the table in any peace negotiations, and European interests should be “considered and carefully weighed.”
When Sen. Wicker was asked if Putin can be trusted in peace negotiations, Wicker answered,
“No. Putin is a war criminal and should be in jail for the rest of his life, if not executed.”