Senate Republican says US needs to accept Ukraine will ‘cede some territory’ to Russia

Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) said Sunday that the United States needs to accept that Ukraine will likely need to “cede some territory” to Russia to end the fighting.

Vance told CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union” that he is opposed to sending more aid to Ukraine because he does not believe the country will ever be able to overpower Russia. He questioned why sending billions in aid to Ukraine is going to help the country at this point in its war against Russia, considering previous aid has yet to end the war.

“What’s in America’s best interest is to accept Ukraine is going to have to cede some territory to the Russians, and we need to bring this war to a close,” Vance said. “But when I think about the great human tragedy here, hundreds of thousands of Eastern Europeans innocent have been killed in this conflict. The thing that’s in our interest and in theirs is to stop the killing.”

Lawmakers have been at odds over a White House supplemental funding request that included additional aid to Israel and Ukraine. Many Republicans have become opposed to sending more assistance to Ukraine and have demanded that increased border security measures be included in the funding request.

Senate Republicans blocked a measure to provide aid to Ukraine and Israel last week due to a lack of border provisions in the bill. The $111 billion emergency supplemental package requested by President Biden also included aid for the Indo-Pacific region and funding for humanitarian aid in Gaza.

The Biden administration warned earlier this month that the U.S. will run out of money for Ukraine without congressional action by the end of the year.

Vance argued Sunday that no one believed Ukraine was going to win the war, explaining that the main focus should be bringing an end to the fighting and killing in the region.

“But on the Ukraine question in particular, everybody knows, everybody with a brain in their head, Jake, knows this was always going to end in negotiation,” Vance said. “The idea that Ukraine was going to throw Russia back to the 1991 border was preposterous; nobody actually believed it.”

“So what we’re saying to the president and really to the entire world is you need to articulate what the ambition is,” he said. “What is $61 billion going to accomplish that $100 billion hasn’t?”