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Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., on Sunday warned of potentially disastrous consequences for Ukraine if the Trump administration doesn’t restart military aid and intelligence sharing with the Eastern European nation.
“As long as the fighting is going on, if we pull the plug on Ukraine, it would be worse than Afghanistan,” Graham said during an interview on “Fox News Sunday.”
“Until we have a ceasefire, I would give Ukraine what they need in terms of intelligence and weapons to defend themselves,” Graham added. “In terms of Russia, I’ll be introducing sanctions on their banking sector and their energy sector next week, urging them to get to the table. If they don’t engage in ceasefire and peace talks with the administration, we should sanction the hell out of them.”
His comments come just days after the Trump administration paused military aid and intelligence sharing with Ukraine, which just marked the three-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion across Ukraine’s eastern border.
Asked about lifting the U.S. pause on intel sharing, President Donald Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday, “We really just about have.”
“We want to do anything we can to get Ukraine to be serious about getting something done,” Trump added.
The U.S. help for Ukraine came to an abrupt pause last week after tensions between Trump, Vice President JD Vance and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy boiled over during an Oval Office meeting on Feb. 28 that devolved into a shouting match. In the fallout from that meeting, Russia has launched an increasing barrage of attacks on Ukraine.
Zelenskyy had been visiting the White House to sign a deal that would have granted the U.S. ownership over certain minerals in Ukraine. But Zelenskyy left the White House without a deal after the Ukrainian president insisted on security guarantees and Trump and Vance accused him of not being grateful enough for the United States’ continued support.
“We’re trying to integrate our economies. We’re trying to make sure that Ukraine has value to the American economy — a win-win situation,” said Graham, who had previously called on Zelenskyy to resign after the Oval Office meeting.
Trump on Sunday asserted that Ukraine is now prepared to sign the mineral agreement. He said, however, that Kyiv has still not adequately displayed a desire for peace, though he believes that will change in the coming days.
“I want them to want peace right now. Well, right now they haven’t shown it to the extent that they should,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One. “But I think they will be, and I think it’s going to become evident over the next two or three days.”
U.S. and Ukrainian officials are preparing to meet in Saudi Arabia this week to work toward a potential minerals deal and a ceasefire agreement with Russia. But Trump has signaled to his domestic allies that he wants more than just the minerals deal from Ukraine in exchange for restarting aid and intelligence sharing.
Asked about the minerals deal in Ukraine during a separate interview on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures,” Trump told Maria Bartiromo, “I think so. I think it’ll happen.”
Trump also responded to criticism that he hasn’t been tough on Russia, telling Bartiromo, “I’ve been very tough to Russia, tougher than anybody has ever been to Russia, if you think about it.”
In a post on X Saturday, Zelenskyy named a delegation to attend the meeting in Saudi Arabia, saying Ukraine is “fully committed to constructive dialogue.”
“Ukraine has been seeking peace from the very first second of this war. Realistic proposals are on the table. The key is to move quickly and effectively,” Zelenskyy wrote.
In the weeks leading up to the Oval Office meeting with Zelenskyy, Trump and the Ukrainian president traded barbs from a distance, with the U.S. president at one point calling Zelenskyy a “dictator” and implying that Ukraine was responsible for starting the war, not Russia.
Alexandra Marquez is a politics reporter for NBC News.
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