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One of President Trump’s core objectives heading into negotiations with Russian tyrant Vladimir Putin will be to prevent a third invasion of Ukraine, according to Sen. Lindsey Graham.
“I am here to tell you that President Trump will end this war in a way to prevent a third invasion and not to entice China to take Taiwan,” Graham (R-SC), who went golfing with Trump on Saturday, told NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
“We’re not out to humiliate Putin, we’re out to get a deal to make sure there’s no third invasion.”
Graham didn’t shed light on how Trump might go about trying to prevent a future invasion of Ukraine, but called for Kyiv to get security guarantees from European countries. Top Russian officials have previously been critical of the idea of Europe providing Ukraine with security.
Russia infamously annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 and began its current, brutal invasion in February of 2022.
The South Carolina Republican also suggested that the US should continue working to ensure Ukraine’s military remains strong after the war concludes in order to deter future aggression.
“Militarily, we need to keep Ukraine strong, keep flowing them strong and modern weapons, and security guarantees with European forces on the ground as trip wires to prevent a third invasion,” he said.
“We want to end this with the sovereign, independent, self-governing Ukraine, and a situation where Putin cannot do this the third time without being crushed. This is really a dress rehearsal for Taiwan.”
Trump is set to meet with Putin in Alaska on Friday.
That meeting comes after Putin purportedly made offers to special envoy Steve Witkoff, though details about what the Kremlin tyrant put on the table are murky.
Prior to the supposed breakthrough between Witkoff and Putin, Trump had threatened to impose steep secondary sanctions or tariffs against Russia.
The president gave Moscow a deadline of last Friday to either take steps towards peace with Ukraine or else he would pull the trigger on those economic penalties.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who has worked to patch things up with Trump since their February Oval Office shouting match, has publicly argued that decisions on how to broker peace cannot be made without Ukraine. Zelensky has also cast doubt on territorial concessions to Russia.
“I do hope that Zelensky can be part of the process. I’ll leave that up to the White House,” Graham said of the upcoming talks between Trump and Putin.
“I have every confidence in the world that the President is going to go to meet Putin from a position of strength, that he’s going to look out for Europe and Ukrainian needs to end this war honorably.”
The White House has reportedly toyed with the idea of having Zelensky attend the meeting with Putin. But Trump has made it clear publicly that he is willing to meet Putin without Zelensky.
Graham also floated the division of Berlin as a model to settle the conflict between Russia over time.
“Think about East Berlin and West Berlin as the way a conflict can be settled, at least for a period of time. North Korea and South Korea [are] in a state of truce. There’s never been a final settlement,” he said.
“I want to be honest with you. Ukraine’s not going to evict every Russian, and Russia’s not going to keep [everything]. So there will be some land swaps at the end,” he added. “The goal for me, and I think President Trump, is to end it [the war] forever.”
