In an interview on Sunday on ABC News “this week”, Democratic Senator Jack Reed has decreed the recent verbal attacks by President Donald Trump against Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and increased alignment with Russia.
“Essentially, it is President Trump going to the Russians,” Reed told Co-Album Martha Raddatz.
“He is not a statesman or a diplomat,” added Reed. “It is only someone who admires Putin, does not believe in the struggle of the Ukrainians and is committed to getting up to an autocrat.”
Reed said the statements that Trump recently made on Ukraine were “generally misleading or completely false”, and suggest that he has “no real intention to hire the Ukrainian government to discover what they need” in negotiations with Russia.
Senator Jack Reed appears on “this week” on February 23, 2025.
ABC
“I would be more confident in this suggestion if there was a vigorous dialogue between the Ukrainians and the United States with regard to these negotiations, that we understood where their lines are, and this was apparently not Not produced, “he said.
In order to resolve the war in Ukraine, Reed said that it would be crucial to “communicate to the Russians that we will be very, very serious about their actions in Ukraine”.
“What we have to do is maintain the pressure, then enter the negotiations – negotiations that will understand the Ukrainians, not exclude them.” He said “and then with this pressure, I hope Putin will decide that the cost is too high to continue this effort.”
Representative Mike Lawler appears on “this week” on February 23, 2025.
ABC
Speaking to Raddatz later, the republican representative Mike Lawler criticized the Russian president Vladimir Putin as “a vile dictator and thug” who is “clearly responsible for the war in Ukraine”, despite the false claims of Trump earlier in the week that Zelenskyy sparked the war.
“Russia, China and Iran have worked in a coordinated effort to undermine and destabilize the United States, Europe, Israel and the free world,” said Lawler. “These are not our allies or our friends – we must be clear about it.”
Lawler said that he “did not agree with the president’s rhetoric about Volodymyr Zelenskyy”, but also said that Zelenskyy “saying that the president falls for Russian disinformation does not help his cause”.
“What I would say is this, he does not dare on the other side of having this audience from front and back,” said Lawler. “I think that President Zelenskyy must work with the administration, in particular with regard to economic cooperation.”
