Frustrated GOP senators blow steam on Russia: 'Sick of' Trump, Vance 'love affair' with Putin

Source: The Hill

09/16/25 6:00 AM ET


Senate Republicans are growing increasingly exasperated over President Trump’s refusal to give them permission to move tough bipartisan sanctions legislation against Russia and countries that buy its oil. Trump pressed European allies over the weekend to levy harsher sanctions against Russia, but he has dragged his feet on the bipartisan sanctions bill, which Republican senators were hoping to get done in July.

The failure to act is fueling growing disillusionment among some Senate Republicans that Trump is not serious about helping Ukraine. One Republican senator who requested anonymity to comment candidly on the stalemate over the sanctions legislation questioned whether Trump would ever come around to backing more military aid to Ukraine or slapping harsh sanctions on Russia.

“I’m sick of Trump and JD and their love affair with everything Putin,” the senator grumbled, noting Trump’s red-carpet welcome of Russian President Vladimir Putin at Alaska’s Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson last month and Vice President Vance’s recent comments defending Putin’s approach to peace negotiations.

The Republican lawmaker said Russia’s massive drone and missile attack against Ukraine last week, the biggest aerial barrage of the three-and-a-half-year war, was a major provocation and a clear sign that Putin doesn’t fear serious repercussions from Washington. “They’re just testing how far we’ll bend over. It makes me sick,” the lawmaker said.

Read more: https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/5504778-trump-russia-sanctions-gop-frustration/