Ron Johnson casts doubts on continued U.S. aid helping Ukraine in its fight against Russia, calls for negotiations to begin

WASHINGTON – U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson this week expressed doubts over the impact of continued U.S. assistance to Ukraine in its fight against Russia, calling the war unwinnable for either side and suggesting the warring nations need to negotiate an end to the conflict. 

“At some point people are going to have to understand the reality of the situation,” the Wisconsin Republican told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on Tuesday. “I don’t see a scenario, and I’ve asked — I mean, where is there a path to victory from our standpoint? All I see is a grinding stalemate that day-by-day more people get killed and more of Ukraine gets destroyed.”

Johnson said the war is a “lose-lose-lose for everybody” and added: “Nobody can win at this point. They should start negotiating.” 

The comments come as Republicans have become increasingly divided on whether to continue providing financial aid and military equipment to help Ukraine defend itself against the Russian invasion. Much of the dissent has spawned from a far-right faction of House Republicans who have derided Washington’s spending on the war and called for a “peace agreement.” 

Washington approved more than $100 billion in weaponry and financial assistance to Ukraine over the past year. 

Johnson’s remarks also appear to put him at odds with his party’s leadership, who have underscored the need for continued support for Ukraine. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell last month on the one-year anniversary of the Russian invasion argued the U.S. support of Ukraine’s military defense was “not an act of charity.” He said at the time that the U.S.’s security is “deeply intertwined” with a stable Europe. 

“The road to peace lies in speedily surging Ukraine the tools they need to achieve victory as they define it,” said McConnell, a Kentucky Republican.

President Joe Biden, who in February made a covert visit to Ukraine in a sign of support for the country, has pledged to help counter Putin's invasion and declared that Russia will not win in Ukraine. "President Putin chose this war," Biden said during a speech in Poland last month. "Every day the war continues is his choice. He could end the war with a word."

And there are no signs of peace negotiations in the near future. After the International Criminal Court earlier this month issued an arrest warrant for Putin for alleged war crimes, one Ukrainian official said there would be "no negotiations with current" Russian leadership.

Still, Johnson this week said he does not see things getting better in Ukraine.

On Sunday, he told Fox News that the war “is not a popular thing” in Wisconsin and said that, at this point in the war, “this just grinds down because nobody’s going to be bombing Moscow cities to reduce the popular support for the war in Russia.”

Johnson on Sunday warned that the war in Ukraine is depleting the U.S.’s military stockpiles and told the Journal Sentinel on Tuesday that he voted for a $40 billion aid package to Ukraine last May because the package included funds to restock U.S. equipment. 

(Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany was the lone member of Wisconsin’s congressional delegation to vote against the May 2022 aid package, saying at the time that the government should focus on domestic issues like inflation.) 

Johnson suggested that “weakness” from the Biden Administration emboldened Putin to invade Ukraine.

“There was a moment in time I think we could have dissuaded him from going in,” Johnson said. “There was a moment in time when he was back on his heels. Maybe had we surged enough military equipment there we maybe could have spanked him hard enough to get him to withdraw.”

Of Putin, Johnson added: “He’s not going to win. His ability to win was pretty much out the window in the first couple weeks when he wasn’t able to totally take over Ukraine… There’s no win for him. He can’t win, but he won’t lose.”

When asked Tuesday about the territory Ukraine has lost to Russia since the beginning of the war, Johnson said he was “not going to negotiate” for the two countries.

“I’m not saying this is easy,” Johnson said. “I just hate seeing, from the U.S. side, kind of the constant drums of war around here.” 

“We need to be very careful about what we could stumble into.”