Ukraine

The Hlll -  President Trump’s warming relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin, which may lead to a trilateral summit of the United States, Russia and China to resolve the fate of Ukraine, is getting strong pushback from Republicans in Congress.

Several Republicans have panned the idea that Trump would huddle with Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping, two foreign leaders largely viewed in Congress as adversaries to American interests, to cut a peace deal that Ukraine would be forced to accept.

….Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) called a potential summit with Putin and Xi to decide Ukraine’s fate “foolhardy” and “morally wrong.”

“To not include Ukraine is nonsense,” he told Sirius XM’s “The Julie Mason Show.”

“Ukrainians have got to be part of any peace deal. It’s not only essential because otherwise we won’t have peace, but it’s also the right thing to do,” he added. “Russia is trying to kill Americans around the world, covertly and overtly.”

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) declared in a CNN interview that “Putin is playing President Trump like a fiddle” and warned “history is not going to look good on an America that failed to rise up and defend the Western world if Putin actually gets his way.”

The Guardian - Vladimir Putin ordered the release of an American from a Russian jail as he met Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff in St Petersburg on Wednesday for fresh talks on ending the war in Ukraine, amid increasingly close relations between Moscow and Washington.

Trump had previously asked Putin to free Stephen Hubbard, a 74-year-old former teacher who had spent more than four years in Russian jails on charges of fighting as a mercenary for Ukraine.

His release appeared to be Moscow’s latest calculated move to bring Trump further into line with Putin’s position on Ukraine, while offering the US president a diplomatic victory before the midterm elections.