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Alsharq Tribune- Sarah Benkraouda
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham has voiced support for US President Donald Trump's peacekeeping efforts and warned China of consequences for any potential support of Vladimir Putin's war, according to Lindsey Graham’s post on the social media platform X.
The senator noted that he had a very good meeting with Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng, during which a range of pressing global issues were discussed, including trade and the war between Ukraine and Russia.
The Chinese ambassador reiterated that since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, Beijing has maintained a position of seeking peace through dialogue. Graham agreed with this approach.
In response, the senator expressed hope that the US will be able to establish a genuine dialogue with China - something sorely lacking in the case of Russian President Vladimir Putin. He also emphasized that a combination of a ceasefire and sincere negotiations could lead to an honorable and just peace.
"A supermajority of the U.S. Senate is of the opinion that Putin has been avoiding real negotiations because he thinks that over time the U.S. and our allies will break. That would be a serious miscalculation that could affect China and other nations that continue to support Putin’s oil-based economy.
President Trump is right: it is time to end this bloodbath," Graham stated.
After the unsuccessful peace talks in Istanbul on May 16, which failed due to Kremlin conditions unacceptable to Kyiv, the administration of US President Donald Trump continued its peace efforts but suddenly leaned toward Moscow.
On May 17, Trump announced devastating sanctions against Russia if there was no progress in the peace talks.
However, after a lengthy phone call with Putin on May 19, the US president decided not to rush with sanctions and said it was necessary to see how the Kremlin would behave moving forward.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated that new sanctions would force Moscow out of the negotiations.
The White House chief shocked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders with openly pro-Russian statements and did not rule out the possibility of the US withdrawing from the negotiation process.
According to sources cited by Bloomberg, Trump suddenly began to believe in Russia’s victory in the war and started echoing Kremlin messages.
