Kentucky Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell took another shot at President Donald Trump this week, suggesting the 47th president’s refusal to blame Russia as the sole aggressor who provoked the war in Ukraine “reflects a gross misunderstanding of the nature of negotiations and leverage.”
In a statement commemorating the third anniversary of the war, McConnell asserted that Vladimir Putin bears sole responsibility for the “human catastrophe” and warned that even if Ukrainian forces surrendered their weapons, “Putin’s aims would not stop with Kyiv.”
“Mistaking this fact is as embarrassing as it is costly,” McConnell said, The Hill reported.
He also said that the Biden administration’s “shameful hesitation and half-measures” in responding to Russian aggression were wrong.
While McConnell did not mention Trump by name, he did say that refusing to see that the US wants to defeat Russian aggression would be “even more disgraceful.”
“Refusing to acknowledge Russia as the undeniable and unprovoked aggressor is more than an unseemly moral equivalency — it reflects a gross misunderstanding of the nature of negotiations and leverage,” he said.
McConnell, who is the head of the Senate’s Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, made the statement a few days after Trump said that Trump believed Ukraine started the war with Russia and called Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of Ukraine, “a dictator without elections.”
“America is right to seek an end to this war, but an end that fails to constrain Russian ambition, ensure Ukrainian sovereignty, or strengthen American credibility with both allies and adversaries is no end at all,” McConnell warned.
“Instead, such a hollow peace would invite further aggression,” he said.
McConnell said the “axis of aggressors from Beijing to Moscow,” which includes Iran and North Korea, is seeking an outcome in Ukraine that “undermines the credibility of American deterrence and leaves U.S. interests more vulnerable.”
“Without a clear and resolute commitment to the leadership and order that underpins our prosperity and security, America’s adversaries will receive exactly what they hope for,” he declared.
McConnell announced on the Senate floor last week that he will not run for re-election in 2026.
The Kentucky senator, who turned 83 on Thursday, has been a major figure in the party and is the Senate leader with the most years of service, even though he has had health problems in recent years. In the past, McConnell and President Trump have had disagreements.
The Kentucky Republican has also fought against the isolationist movement in the Republican Party. With more votes against Trump’s nominees than any other Republican, McConnell has been a strong supporter of aid for Ukraine.
“Thanks to Ronald Reagan’s determination, the work of strengthening America’s hard power was well underway when I arrived in the Senate, but since then, we’ve allowed that power to atrophy, and today, a dangerous world threatens to outpace the work of rebuilding it,” warned McConnell. “So lest any of our colleagues still doubt my intentions for the remainder of my term, I have some unfinished business to attend to.”
McConnell said that when his term ends, he will leave the Senate “with great hope for the endurance of the Senate as an institution. There are any number of reasons for pessimism, but the strength of the Senate is not one of them.”
“Seven times my fellow Kentuckians have sent me to the Senate. Every day in between, I’ve been humbled by the trust they place in me to do their business right here. Representing our commonwealth has been the honor of a lifetime. I will not seek this honor an eighth time. My current term in the Senate will be my last,” he said.
McConnell’s retirement announcement has set off a race for the Kentucky Senate seat.
GOP Rep. Andy Barr has said he’s eyeing a run, posting on X on Thursday that he’ll make a decision “soon.”