House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) said on Sunday that while the U.S. is committed to supporting Ukraine, he believes Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s focus is misaligned. In an interview with NBC’s Meet the Press, Johnson emphasized that although the U.S. will continue assisting Ukraine in its fight against Russia, its leadership needs to prioritize domestic reforms and stability. He also argued that someone other than Zelenskyy must step forward to lead the foreign country toward peace and long-term success, suggesting a shift in strategy for Ukraine.
Following Friday’s disastrous meeting in the Oval Office with Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and Zelenskyy, during which the Ukrainian leader seemed more inclined to extract every penny from the U.S. than seek peace for his country, Johnson urged Zelenskyy to come to his senses. The House Speaker echoed similar remarks from Republicans who have called on Zelenskyy to be more grateful to the United States after it has shelled out billions of dollars in aid and military weapons in its ongoing conflict with Russia.
“Either he needs to come to his senses and come back to the table in gratitude, or someone else needs to lead the country to do that,” Johnson said. “President Trump has brought back strength to the White House. We need these parties to go along with this, and we need President Zelenskyy to do what is necessary. This war has drug on far too long. He’s lost hundreds of thousands of people, including women and children. We’ve got to bring an end to it. And I think our European allies are hoping that that is the case, and we are as well.”
Johnson stressed that the U.S. was not abandoning Ukraine but that Zelenskyy must want peace for his nation. He called it a “grave disappointment” that the foreign leader refused to cooperate with Trump during a meeting at the White House, pointing out that it’s apparent Zelenskyy is not ready to talk about any sort of peace agreement.
“You’ve got to bring an end to this war,” he added. “And for Zelenskyy to come in and make demands that he wasn’t even making a year ago, I think, shows that his priorities are in the wrong place.”
The House Speaker defended Trump and Vance from critics who claimed they ganged up on Zelenskyy. Instead, Johnson said he saw it as the other way around.
“It is not the president and the vice president that berated Zelenskyy,” Johnson said. “I saw Zelenskyy rather stiff-necked in the Oval Office. Instead of being gracious and saying thank you and looking for a way out of this mess, he did quite the opposite of that.”
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