Hoyer Statement on Trump-Zelenskyy Meeting at the White House

WASHINGTON, DC – Congressman Steny H. Hoyer (MD-05) released the following statement today following the meeting between President Donald J. Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House:

“Donald Trump and JD Vance's treatment of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office today is among the most disgraceful, feckless, and destructive scenes in the annals of American diplomacy. A president who is serious about a just, lasting peace does not invite the leader of a besieged ally to the White House only to berate him in front of the world. The only people talking about World War III are Trump and Vladimir Putin.

"Zelenskyy and the Ukrainian people want peace. They have wanted it ever since Putin illegally annexed Crimea in 2014. They have prayed for it every single one of the 1,100 days since Putin launched his illegal, full-scale invasion of their sovereign nation. Ukrainians correctly recognize, however, that they will never know peace again if they concede to Vladimir Putin's demands. Neither will the free world. Any agreement that fails to guarantee Ukraine's security and deal Putin a resounding strategic defeat is not a peace deal – just an opportunity for Russia to recover, rearm, and reinvade in the near future. Crucially, a Russian victory would be an invitation to dictators around the world to take aim at other democratic nations. 

"History makes that lesson plain. Neville Chamberlain did not secure peace by forfeiting the Sudetenland. Donald Trump will not secure peace by gifting Putin the Donbas. Appeasing a dictator does not sate his hunger for expansion; it only makes him crave it more.

"Many of my Republican colleagues profess to know that lesson. Now is the time to prove it. Do not let our Congress – and our country – abandon Ukraine."