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Congressional Democrats remained skeptical that any progress towards an finish to the conflict in Ukraine could be made forward of the assembly between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The high-stakes assembly in Anchorage, Alaska, comes as lawmakers have grown anxious to see an finish to the battle between Russia and Ukraine, and with many able to slap a bone-breaking sanctions bundle on Moscow and its allies until Putin relents.
However Democrats should not so positive that Trump will yield ends in his closed-door assembly with Putin, the primary between U.S. and Russian leaders for the reason that invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
TRUMP TO HOLD HISTORIC SUMMIT WITH PUTIN IN ALASKA SEEKING AN END TO RUSSIA–UKRAINE WAR
President Donald Trump within the Oval Workplace of the White Home in Washington, DC, on Wednesday, Aug. 6, 2025. (Bonnie Money/UPI/Bloomberg by way of Getty Photographs)
“I worry this assembly may as soon as once more finish with America ceding floor to an autocrat who has spent his profession undermining democratic values,” Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., and the highest Democrat on the Senate Intel Committee, stated.
He warned that there might be no concessions with out Ukraine’s involvement, Russia’s withdrawal from Ukrainian territory and “enforceable ensures” for Ukraine’s safety.
“Something much less could be an invite for additional aggression from Moscow and each autocrat watching to see if the US nonetheless has the spine to defend the ideas which have saved Individuals protected for the reason that Second World Struggle,” he stated.
Home Minority Chief Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., accused Trump of beforehand “taking part in footsie” with Putin, however famous that it appeared that the president’s disposition towards his Russian counterpart had shifted.
He added that final yr, Home Democrats and Republicans labored collectively to move one other navy help bundle for Ukraine, and likened it to a “Churchill or Chamberlain second.”
WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT TRUMP’S MEETING WITH VLADIMIR PUTIN IN ALASKA
Home Minority Chief Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., speaks throughout a information convention on the Capitol, in Washington, Thursday, March 6, 2025. (AP Photograph/J. Scott Applewhite)
“We’re both going to appease the dictator or we will aggressively oppose the dictator,” Jeffries stated. “And as we noticed with Chamberlain, appeasing the dictator by no means works.”
Trump himself sought to set expectations for the summit, telling Fox Information Radio earlier this week that there could be a 25% probability that the assembly would finish in failure.
And aboard Air Power One, Trump informed reporters that he wished to “see a ceasefire quickly.”
“I don’t know if it’s going to be at this time, however I’m not going to be joyful if it’s not at this time,” he stated. “Everybody stated it could’t be at this time, however I’m simply saying I would like the killing to cease.”
The Trump administration has threatened to slap secondary tariffs on India, a significant purchaser of Russian oil, if the assembly didn’t go nicely. That comes after Trump gave Putin a 50-day deadline to succeed in a ceasefire settlement, which the president just lately shortened to “10 or 12” days.
PUTIN ALLY WARNS ‘TITANIC EFFORTS’ ARE UNDERWAY TO SINK TRUMP SUMMIT OVER UKRAINE WAR
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., speaks throughout a information convention following the weekly Senate Democratic coverage luncheon assembly on the U.S. Capitol Constructing on Sept. 19, 2023 in Washington, D.C. (Getty Photographs)
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, the highest Democrat on the Senate International Intelligence Committee, informed reporters that “individuals have been keen to provide the White Home and the president the advantage of the doubt.”
“But when he doesn’t produce something at this summit, after drawing crimson line after crimson line … there can be rising concern and a rising strain to attempt to get one thing completed,” the New Hampshire Democrat stated.
One space the place many lawmakers within the higher chamber agree is the need for a sanctions bundle in opposition to Russia. At present, Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., have a invoice within the works that may slap as much as 500% tariffs on nations shopping for vitality merchandise from Moscow.
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Blumenthal informed MSNBC earlier this week if Trump stood agency and insisted on a ceasefire, Putin come to the desk with European leaders and safe safety ensures “he has the makings of a possible settlement that would win him the Nobel Peace Prize.”
“However my worry is that he would be the mercurial Donald Trump who allowed the deadline for sanctions to move final Friday with none imposition of recent levies on Russia, and that he’ll fail to stick to these ideas adopted yesterday by the European nations of their assembly,” he stated.
