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In the hours before President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance ganged up on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Senate Armed Services Chairman Roger Wicker met with Zelensky.
Wicker is an ardent supporter of Ukraine and regularly wears a lapel pin with both the American and Ukrainian flag on it. But as Punchbowl News reported, shortly after the row, Wicker deleted his tweet about the Ukrainian president.
On Monday the Mississippi Republican remained mum.
He and other Republican supporters of Zelensky in the Senate, however, appeared to remain steadfast in their concern and support for Ukraine. But that was shortly before the latest dire development by Trump, who suddenly paused military aide to Ukraine
“I’ve decided not to do interviews today,” Wicker tersely told The Independent.
The Senate has long been a bastion for support for Ukraine even before Russian Vladimir Putin’s invasion three years ago.
After the United States voted against a United Nations resolution to condemn the invasion, Wicker told The Independent that he wished the United States had voted for it and Senate Majority Leader John Thune said: “I’m pretty clear about who I think started the war.”
But the Trump administration’s tack toward being actively hostile toward Ukraine and Zelensky has put supporters of Ukraine in a tight spot.
Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina told The Independent that the United States and Ukraine could get back on the same page.
“I’m hoping that we can lower the temperature and get back to an agreement that’s good for Ukraine, good for the US, and frankly, not that good for Russia,” he said. But Tillis said he was not bothered by Trump’s refusal to say that Ukraine started the war.
In fact, Trump has blamed Zelensky for the war and called him a dictator.
“All I’m focused on is exactly what we need to do, to do right by Ukraine and actually address the risk for the American people, [and] our allies in Europe,” he said.
Tillis’ words come as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, whom Tillis voted to confirm, paused offensive cyberoperations against Russia by U.S. Cyber Command. Trump also assailed European leaders strongly backing Ukraine, including British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer. In addition he insisted that Zelensky “doesn’t want peace.”
Trump has focused heavily on ending the war in Ukraine and has been loath to criticize Putin both during his first term in office and ever since.
Maine Senator Susan Collins said that the exchange was unfortunate.
“There is no doubt that Putin is the aggressor in Ukraine and launched a brutal and unprovoked attack,” Collins told a gaggle of reporters.
“I do hope we can come up with a just and lasting peace for Ukraine, but we can’t forget who started this war,” she said.
As chairwoman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Collins controls the spending in Congress, including whether to set aside more money to Ukraine.
Another potential issue is whether Trump and Zelensky could come to an agreement about the future of Ukraine’s rare earth minerals.
Senator Mike Rounds of South Dakota said he thinks that Trump and Zelensky can also get back to working together in the future.
“I think so,” he told The Independent. “In order to have peace, we need to have that minerals deal done. I think everybody wants to see it move forward. We want peace, but we also want Ukraine to be protected.”
But the Senate GOP’s hope for the impasse to end might be a long time coming, particularly now that Trump has paused military aid to the war-torn country.
