WASHINGTON — Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) accused President Trump of seeking an “illusory peace” with Russian President Vladimir Putin as the former Senate Republican leader accepted the Star of Ukraine award Thursday evening.
McConnell, 83, said Trump’s advisers “don’t seem ready to summon the resources and national will it requires” to deter US adversaries — and accused the White House of moving the nation toward “a headline that reads, ‘Russia wins, America loses,’” during remarks accepting the honor from the US-Ukraine Foundation.
The Kentuckian also ripped the administration’s approach so far to winding down the three-year war, saying it “shreds America’s credibility, leaves Ukraine under threat, weakens our alliances and emboldens our enemies.”
“Peace is a noble goal. And few deserve it more than the people of Ukraine, who feel the absence of peace most viscerally … When they stand in the rubble of their homes, their schools, and their churches,” he went on. “And when they say goodbye to children or parents bound for the front, some never to return.”
“If there’s anyone who I’ll take at their word when they say they want peace, it’s the people who had peace stolen from them,” he added. “The nation whose unique identity has led Kremlin totalitarians — time and time again — to starve, subjugate, and try to destroy it.”
Trump, 78, and Vice President JD Vance, 40, went off on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in an Oval Office meeting Feb. 28, sinking plans for an economic deal that would have seen the US jointly invest in Kyiv’s rare-earth minerals.
Zelensky had locked horns with Vance over what the Ukrainian suggested was a toothless diplomatic approach to Russian aggression — leading Trump to lash out: “You’re gambling with World War III.”
After the setback in US-Ukraine relations, the president briefly stopped sharing critical intelligence with Kyiv and halted military aid.
US special envoy Steve Witkoff has since flown to Moscow twice to meet with Putin in an effort to reach a cease-fire — without reaching an agreement either time.
In Thursday’s remarks, McConnell knocked Trump — without directly naming him or his advisers — for the fallout from the stalled negotiations.
“When American officials court the favor of an adversary at the expense of allies … when they mock our friends to impress an enemy … they reveal their embarrassing naivete,” he said.
“To cut off Ukraine is to stab ourselves in the back. So is the denigration of allies who have fought and died alongside us,” he added. “The Americans should be dangerous allies. The kind so dangerous that enemies of democracy, sovereignty, and free commerce wouldn’t dare to doubt our commitments or our resolve.
“We’ve got a long road ahead. But I’m proud to share it with all of you.”
The US-Ukraine foundation noted on its webpage that the award given to McConnell was meant for members of Congress who “stand in solidarity with the people of Ukraine.”
When announcing his decision to step down at the end of his current term in January 2027, McConnell hinted at having “some unfinished business to attend to” and has remained a stalwart supporter of Kyiv’s war effort and a robust American military presence on the global stage.
“Every debate over agriculture or infrastructure or education or taxes is downstream of the obligations of national security,” he said last month. “Every question of policy here at home is contingent on our duty to provide for the common defense.”
“Thanks to Ronald Reagan’s determination, the work of strengthening American hard power was well underway when I arrived in the Senate,” McConnell added.
“But since then, we’ve allowed that power to atrophy. And today, a dangerous world threatens to outpace the work of rebuilding it.”
McConnell voted against confirming three of Trump’s cabinet officials — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — though they ascended to their posts with a majority vote from other Republicans.
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