Leading bipartisan voices from the US House of Representatives’ Armed Services Committee, including Republican congressman Don Bacon of Nebraska, once again expressed disgust at Donald Trump’s appeasement of the Kremlin in the latest peace proposal, and asked the administration to have the courage and moral rectitude to defend Ukraine’s sovereignty.
Bacon told ABC this weekend: “I would like to see the president be a stronger advocate for the free country, the sovereign country of Ukraine that wants to be a democracy, wants to be allied with us, and have a little more clear-eyed view of who Putin is, that Putin is the invader.”
He joined the ranking Democrat on the committee, Adam Smith, and others from across the aisle in calling out the failure of the administration for upholding democratic values and “surrendering” Ukraine to a belligerent state led by a convicted war criminal.
Last week, a group of key Democratic representatives launched a blistering attack on the “Putin wing” of the Republican party for their “morally bankrupt” support of the administration’s proposal.
The group, comprising representatives Gregory W. Meeks (D-NY), Ranking Member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee; Adam Smith (D-Wash.), Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Committee; and Jim Himes (D-Conn.), Ranking Member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, were joined by Members of the Congressional Ukraine Caucus Reps. Steny Hoyer (D-MD), former Majority Leader; Marcy Kaptur (D-OH), Co-Founder and Co-Chair of the Congressional Ukraine Caucus; and Bill Keating (D-Mass.), Ranking Member of the House Foreign Affairs Europe Subcommittee, issued the following response to the administration’s peace proposal:
“The administration’s attempt to impose a pro-Russian, one-sided ‘peace’ deal on Ukraine is both a policy nightmare and morally bankrupt. Pressuring Ukraine while giving aid and comfort to Russia is wrong. Forcing Ukraine to give up more of its own territory, including some that Russia doesn’t even hold, is unacceptable.
Crippling the Ukrainian Armed Forces would all but guarantee another Russian invasion once Moscow rebuilds its forces, further threatening NATO. Echoing Putin’s baseless accusations of Nazism amplifies Kremlin disinformation and provides Russia with a convenient excuse to claim Ukraine has violated this imposed edict.
The Putin wing of the administration cannot be allowed to abandon American interests by forcing Ukraine into an unjust and impossible-to-maintain surrender.”
In his interview with ABC’s “This Week” program, Bacon joined his colleagues from across the aisle in condemning the pro-Moscow proposals:
“[Putin is] the dictator. He has murdered all of his opponents. But I just don’t see that moral clarity coming from the White House.”
After reviewing the initial 28-point peace plan developed by Trump advisor Steve Witkoff along with Kremlin envoys, Bacon called it a “surrender document” and took to social media to launch his
“We need moral clarity dealing with Putin,” Bacon added. “He does not want a peace agreement with Ukraine that leaves Ukraine a sovereign country, that can be allied with the West, that can be part of the EU and free markets. He wants to control another third of Ukraine. He would like to make Ukraine a vassal state. So I don’t know why the administration keeps pursuing the pointless here.”
He said the US should be focused on arming Ukraine with the weapons and air defense systems it needs, rather than pursuing “a foreign policy based on greed” that centers agreements on rare earth minerals and natural gas pipelines.