Negotiations between Russia and Ukraine remain distant despite President Donald Trump’s meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday, Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., told Newsmax.
Marshall appeared on “Finnerty” following Trump’s 3 1/2-hour meeting with Putin. Trump described the talks as “extremely productive,” saying many points had been agreed upon, “but there’s no deal until there’s a deal.”
Marshall said the meeting ultimately failed to deliver the progress for which many people had hoped.
“I’m afraid we’re still a little far apart,” he said. “President Trump said we wanted a ceasefire that was not achieved here. So therefore, the economic conference did not happen. No ceasefire, no economic talks.”
He said Trump has been using economic pressure as a tool in pursuit of peace.
“What we’re seeing President Trump here do is use tariffs and trade and economics and energy to leverage a peace deal like he’s done in other countries as well,” Marshall said. “I think it’s time. I hate to say this, but we need to hope for the best, assume the worst.”
Russia’s reported demands, according to host Rob Finnerty, for ending the war include Ukraine’s ceding occupied territory, abandoning its NATO aspirations, and demilitarizing. Ukraine, by contrast, has called for a durable ceasefire, security guarantees from NATO, reparations from Russia, and the return of children and prisoners of war.
Marshall said the wide gulf between those positions leaves little immediate hope for resolution.
“I think these demands from Russia are pretty far apart,” he said. “That doesn’t mean there’s no hope. If anyone can pull a rabbit out of the hat, it will be President Trump. But this was probably not the meeting that we were hoping would happen.”
Marshall added that Putin remains focused on historical ambitions.
“This is a cultural, deep-burning issue that Russia wants to rule the world,” he said. “The problem here is that Europe has let Russia push them around since World War II.
“Look, this is [former President] Joe Biden’s war. This is Europe’s war. America is willing to help, but Europe needs to take the bull by the horns here, and tell Mr. Putin to go fly a kite.”
He also said Trump is preparing to escalate economic measures against Moscow and its trading partners.
“He said he was going to be unhappy if we didn’t get a ceasefire. There was no ceasefire announced.
“Now, he gave Russia a little bit of wiggle room, but I bet … he is like tripling the secondary sanctions on Brazil, on India, on China as well. I think he’s ready to really double down and put some pressure on Mr. Putin, because Putin is not capitulating at all,” Marshall said.
Looking ahead, Marshall said the U.S. Senate may move quickly to adjust sanctions legislation in response to the stalemate.
“I think that’s very reasonable that we need to tweak a little bit what’s in that bill,” he said.
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