Members of both parties in the US Congress have sharply criticized the Trump administration's draft peace agreement aimed at ending the Russia-Ukraine war.
Former Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell suggested Trump's advisers are more focused on appeasing Putin than securing lasting peace.
"Putin has spent an entire year trying to make President Trump look like a fool. If administration officials are more concerned with placating Putin than ensuring real peace – the president needs new advisers," McConnell said, according to European Pravda.
He warned that "rewarding Russian slaughter would be a disaster for American interests," comparing such a move to "a capitulation like Biden's withdrawal from Afghanistan."
Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen, co-chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, called the proposal "more like Putin's plan." According to Shaheen, the United States should instead "pressure Putin, provide long-range weapons, impose secondary sanctions on companies fueling the Russian war machine, and force Putin to the table for real negotiations. We should not be representing Russia's interests in this agreement."
Senator Roger Wicker, Republican chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said the 28-point plan has "real flaws" and he remains "very skeptical" about its chances of securing peace. "Ukraine cannot be forced to give its lands to one of the world's worst war criminals in the person of Putin," Wicker emphasized. He added that "any assurances given to Putin must not reward his evil actions or undermine the security of the US or its allies."
Republican Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick has begun collecting signatures to bring legislation for enhanced sanctions against Russia to a vote.
Trump has given Ukraine until 27 November to agree to the proposed American "peace plan." On 21 November, President Zelenskyy addressed the Ukrainian people, saying the country faces a difficult choice and risks losing either its dignity or its key partner.
