Congressional Republicans expressed varying levels of confidence that President Donald Trump can successfully negotiate a ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia.
In a statement on the Ukraine war Tuesday morning, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) expressed deep doubts regarding Russian President Vladimir Putin’s willingness to accept the Russia-Ukraine ceasefire deal the Trump administration convinced Kyiv to support.
While he praised Trump for getting Ukraine to the negotiating table, Graham said he was “extremely skeptical that Russia will accept the ceasefire and I am very doubtful they want to end this war.”
“Zelensky has passed the test of wanting peace. It is now up to Putin to show his cards,” the South Carolina senator said in a post to X.
While Graham aired his doubts, a Ukrainian-born congresswoman expressed confidence on Tuesday that Trump is the “only one” who can convince Putin to accept the ceasefire.
“I think, as I said before, President Trump is the only person who actually can push on Russia to get to the table. And I think you know, you know, Ukrainians really have the only hope in President Trump to stop this war,” Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-IN) told former House Republican Matt Gaetz on his One America News show. “[Trump’s] a strong leader, and he goes beyond that and is still willing to put pressure on Russia and work with the Ukrainian government to stop escalation.”
When pressed on what she thought would happen if Russia rejected the ceasefire deal, Spartz downplayed the possibility of that happening.
“Well, I think, you know, President Trump is very serious, you know. And I think Russia will take it seriously. They know that he means business,” she told Gaetz. “And I think Putin understands, too, that President Trump means business.”
During a Tuesday interview with ABC News, Spartz said that while ceasefire negotiations would be a “very difficult conversation,” she believed “President Trump is the only person who can put pressure on Putin.”
“It’s a very rough situation,” the congresswoman said, but Trump is “putting pressure for him [Putin] to get to the table too.”
Ukraine accepted the U.S.’s proposal for an immediate 30-day ceasefire between Kyiv and Moscow on Monday. Zelensky’s endorsement of the proposal came after Ukrainian officials met with their U.S. counterparts for meetings in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
“The ball is now in their court,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said of Russia after the meeting. “Ukraine has taken a concrete step… We hope the Russians will reciprocate.”
“We’re going to take the offer to them. We’re going to tell them this is what’s on the table. Ukraine is ready to stop shooting and start talking, and now it’ll be up to them to say yes or no,” Rubio added.
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Russia said it is waiting to receive an in-depth brief on the ceasefire from the U.S. before accepting or rejecting the proposal.
Trump revealed Wednesday afternoon that U.S. negotiators are headed to Russia “right now” to discuss the ceasefire deal with Moscow officials.