One day before Ukraine officials said they’re open to a 30-day ceasefire and the U.S. resumed military aid and intelligence sharing, Sen. Dave McCormick predicted that President Trump would make a deal to end the war—even after the contentious meeting between Trump, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Vice President JD Vance in the Oval Office.
“I think the outline of what President Trump has talked about still makes sense, and I don’t think we should let a very bad meeting in the Oval Office where I I thought President Zelenskyy showed an inadequate level of gratitude and grace [should stop it],” McCormick (R-Pa.) told DV Journal during a podcast interview.
Trump wants a deal to give the U.S. a stake in Ukraine’s minerals.
“But putting that aside for a second, there’s still a deal that’s very much in America’s interest, in Ukraine’s interest in Europe’s interest, and it has the following pieces: Number one, a cessation to the fighting. There’s been a devastating amount of killing on both sides and hundreds of billions of dollars worth of lost treasure. We need to stop that,” said McCormick, who is on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
“Two: We need to have the Europeans step up to give a very significant security agreement [and] security support to Ukraine against the risk of any future invasions of Ukrainian sovereignty. The Ukrainians have to know that if they go into a peace deal, they’re not going ro have to worry about further Russian invasion two years from now.
“Three: I think that the idea that President Trump put forward about an economic deal makes great sense. It aligns with America’s interest. It helps pay for some of the investment the U.S. taxpayers have made, but it also helps pay for the enormous rebuilding that’s going to have to take place in in Ukraine, which the World Bank estimates at about $500 billion. So I like that. I like that approach. I think that deal is something that’s possible, and I think President Trump is uniquely positioned to be able to do that deal.
“And listen, there’s no, there’s no mistake that Russia is the aggressor here,” McCormick added. “They’ve been on the march for the last 15 to 20 years…before 2022, 2014, the invasion of Crimea. And I don’t see any evidence that Zelenskyy is a dictator. So, I don’t agree with the way the president characterized that, but I certainly agree with the outline of the plan and putting the burden of the security agreement largely on Europe.”
DV Journal said, “I don’t understand how we can even talk about a deal as long as Russia believes they want to keep fighting.”
McCormick said Trump will increase sanctions to pressure Russia.
“ Russia’s lost 700,000 people to the war,” said McCormick. “It’s increasingly unpopular in Russia, and their economy is in is in deep disarray. So, while the fighting is continuing, I agree with you that we can’t have an agreement until the fighting stops. I think with the help of the United States putting pressure on Russia, that there’s a possibility that… if [it] doesn’t, if Russians don’t concede that point, that I’m agreeing with you, there’s not going to be an end until Russia stops. But I think there’s lots of reasons Russia should want to stop.”
Natalie Firko, president of the Ukrainian Education and Cultural Center in Abington said she’s hopeful the war will end.
“Ukraine has been defending itself against Russia’s unjust and brutal attack for three years with the strong support of the US and its allies. The war could stop today if Russia just stopped its ruthless bombardment of energy infrastructure, homes, schools, and hospitals that are killing innocent children and civilians. There is only one aggressor in this war, and it is Russia.”
While she’s hopeful, she does not trust Russia since it has broken “every peace agreement or ceasefire agreement in the past, including the agreement Russia signed with the U.S. and Ukraine in 1994 to give up its nuclear arsenal for a guarantee that it would not be invaded by Russia. That agreement was broken in 2014 with the initial invasion of eastern Ukraine and Crimea and then the full-on brutal war it started in 2022 to overtake the entire country. History has shown that peace agreements made with Russia that do not include security guarantees will be violated,” said Firko.
“Pennsylvania is home to more than 150,000 Ukrainian Americans. I’ve heard many of their stories and share their desire for Putin to be held accountable for his aggression against Ukraine. Russia must return the tens of thousands of Ukrainian children its forces have taken from their homes, and a peace agreement will undoubtedly facilitate the return of Ukrainian prisoners of war who have faced appalling treatment in Russian prisons,” McCormick said in a recent op-ed.
John Hardie, deputy director of the Russia Program at the Foundation for Defense in Washington, D.C. said Trump “is right to seek peace in Ukraine. The best way to achieve durable peace is not to undercut Ukraine, which will only make Putin even less willing to compromise. Instead, Washington needs to continue and, ideally, increase military aid for Ukraine while also ramping up the economic pressure on Russia.
“The goal should be to show Putin he cannot gain anything through continued fighting, and to shorten the amount of time Russia’s economy can sustain the war,” he said.
“Meanwhile, Washington needs to work with allies to solidify plans for postwar European-led security guarantees and arms deliveries for Ukraine. This element should be central to the U.S. strategy for negotiations with Russia, not an afterthought as it currently seems to be for President Trump,” Hardie added.
