Representative Don Bacon, a Nebraska Republican and retired Air Force brigadier general, publicly criticized President Donald Trump’s approach to Russia and Ukraine late Wednesday, warning that U.S. efforts to end the war must not come at the cost of rewarding Russian aggression.
Why It Matters
The comments underscore divisions within the Republican Party over Ukraine as the Trump administration presses for a negotiated end to the war. With Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky saying the U.S. is tying future security guarantees to Kyiv giving up territory in eastern Ukraine, Bacon’s remarks highlight concerns that a rapid peace deal could weaken U.S. credibility and embolden Moscow.
Ukraine has relied heavily on Western military and diplomatic support since Russia’s full‑scale invasion in 2022, and any shift in U.S. policy could reshape the balance of the conflict.
What To Know
Moscow has long insisted that full control of Donbas is a core war aim, with President Vladimir Putin demanding that Ukraine withdraw from the remaining parts of the strategically important region still under Kyiv’s control. Russia claimed to annex the region after its 2022 invasion, moves that the West has rejected as illegal under international law.
Zelensky said Wednesday that the U.S. will provide security guarantees for Ukraine only if Kyiv gives up the country’s eastern Donbas region to Russia.
“The Americans are prepared to finalize these guarantees at a high level once Ukraine is ready to withdraw from Donbas,” he told Reuters.
A U.S. official denied Zelensky’s claims on Thursday, telling Newsweek that the U.S. has not tied security guarantees for Ukraine post-war to Kyiv giving up the Donbas region.
Bacon posted on X late Wednesday: “President Trump wants to appease President Putin. Most Americans reject it. We reject Putin.”
The post came just hours after Bacon reposted a message from Meaghan Mobbs, a national security commentator and former Trump administration official, who warned against territorial concessions in pursuit of peace.
“This is not just terrible for Ukraine, it is bad for America,” Mobbs wrote. “History shows that trading land for promises of peace has a long record of making conflicts worse, not better.”
Mobbs linked to the Reuters interview in which Zelensky warned that such a move would leave Ukraine vulnerable to renewed Russian attacks and undermine Europe’s security.
The Ukrainian president also suggested that Washington was placing greater pressure on Kyiv than on Moscow as it seeks to bring the war to a swift conclusion, noting that the Trump administration is juggling multiple global crises, including conflict in the Middle East.
Bacon, who is not seeking reelection, has been one of the most outspoken Republican critics of Trump’s stance on Ukraine. In a 2025 appearance on CBS’ 60 Minutes, he warned that Trump appeared to be echoing Kremlin talking points by suggesting Ukraine bore responsibility for the war or by downplaying the need for Western security guarantees.
“Ukraine is the victim,” Bacon said at the time, arguing that abandoning post‑World War II security frameworks would weaken NATO and invite further aggression from authoritarian powers.
Zelensky, meanwhile, has repeatedly rejected the idea of trading land for peace, saying that surrendering Donbas would hand Russia strong defensive positions and signal that territorial conquest can be rewarded.
The Trump administration has made ending the Ukraine war a central foreign‑policy goal of the president’s second term, arguing that prolonged fighting benefits neither side and drains U.S. resources.
What People Are Saying
Russian Special Envoy Kirill Dmitriev, on Zelensky’s Reuters interview: “He said an important thing…he finally understood that the U.S. position is that they’ll only support security guarantees if Ukraine quits Donbas.”
President Donald Trump told reporters after a call with Putin this month: “There’s tremendous hatred between President Putin and President Zelensky. They can’t seem to get it together, but I think it was a positive call on that subject.”
Representative Don Bacon, a Nebraska Republican, on X in January: “The Trump Administration is doing way too little to help Ukraine. We should be sending more long-range precision weapons and more air defenses. The Biden Administration would send too little, too late. But, that was better than now.”
Kaja Kallas, EU high representative for foreign affairs, on Thursday on Ukraine being pressured to give up Donbas: “This is clearly a wrong approach. It is, of course, the Russian playbook of negotiations, that they are demanding something that has never been theirs, and that’s why we are also flagging that this is the trap that we should not walk into.”
What Happens Next
U.S. and Ukrainian officials are expected to hold further bilateral talks in the coming days, ahead of a still‑unscheduled next round of U.S.‑brokered negotiations that could again include Russia.
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