Iowa Republicans say it’s time for tougher measures to stop the Kremlin attacks after Russia launched an air attack on Ukrainian cities with civilians.
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) called on President Donald Trump to “at least” impose even more severe sanctions on Moscow in response to what he said.
“Putin’s N-F killed an innocent ppl,” Grassley posted on May 26, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin. “Puretamp will at least carry out sanctions.”
The Iowa Senator’s call comes the day after Trump condemned a one-night Russian drone and missile strike against Ukraine.
Grassley, the Senate Judiciary Committee chair and Ukrainian Caucus Senator in the Senate, repeatedly urged Trump to hold President Putin accountable, accusing Russian leaders of using US restraints to raise the profits of the battlefield, claiming they were seeking diplomatic reconciliation into the long-term war.
In April, Grassley wrote in a post on X:
Trump maintained existing sanctions against Russia, positioned himself as a mediator of the conflict, pushing both sides to stop the fight and enter peace talks. However, Ukrainian President Voldimia Zelenki agreed to Trump’s unconditional ceasefire proposal, but Putin refused and expressed his willingness to speak, but expressed his desire to stand up to his demands to address it before addressing the so-called underlying causes of the conflict.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in an interview in April that these underlying causes include what the Kremlin views as a Western role in the 2014 overthrow of Ukraine’s pro-Russia government, and that pushes Russia to join NATO, which it sees as a hostile military alliance that creeps up hostile military alliances to threaten the country’s long-term security.
Trump, who recently made separate calls between Putin and Zelensky, said he wanted both sides to continue talking to a diplomatic reconciliation in the conflict, warned in April that he might withdraw from his role as a peace broker if he didn’t see any signs of progress from both sides. After the intensifying attacks on the weekend, the president showed growing dissatisfaction with Moscow and Kiev.
“I’ve always had a very good relationship with Vladimir Putin, but something happened to him,” Trump said in a May 25th post on the Truth Society. “He’s killing so many people unnecessarily… missiles and drones have been shot by Ukrainian cities for no reason.”
In his remarks that it appears to reflect Putin’s view of broader intentions, Trump added:
Trump also expressed his dissatisfaction with Zelensky, saying that the rhetoric of Ukrainian leaders is undermining diplomatic progress. “Everything causes problems from his mouth,” Trump wrote. “I don’t like it and I’d better stop.”
Zelenskyy on May 25th condemned the latest Russian attacks, saying that each such “terrorist Russian strike” was the basis for new sanctions against Moscow, urging the US and European countries to put pressure on Russia for peace.
“War can be stopped, but only through the necessary forces of pressure on Russia. Putin must be forced to think about ending the war, not about launching missiles,” Zelensky said in a post in X.
Meanwhile, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on May 26 that Russia’s latest attack on Ukraine was in retaliation for Kiev’s attack on Russia’s civil infrastructure.
“We can see how Ukrainians attack our social infrastructure facilities, our private infrastructure,” Peskov told reporters on each state media TASS. “These are retaliatory strikes, strikes against military facilities and military targets,” he continued, denounced the West for sticking to Russian strikes while ignoring attacks by Ukraine.
The Epoch Times could not independently examine Russian hit claims about Russian private infrastructure.
Ukraine was restricted by its allies to target only military targets in the Russian Ukrainian occupied areas, using western-supported weapons before Russia attacked the city.
German Prime Minister Friedrich Merz on Monday confirmed that Ukraine could use weapons to strike military targets freely within Russian territory.
“There is no longer a limit to the range of weapons delivered to Ukraine,” Mertz said on May 26th in a forum hosted by public broadcaster WDR.
The German Prime Minister added that while Moscow is attacking Ukrainian civilian targets, Kiev must be able to use its weapons to target Russian military infrastructure.
“A country that can only stand up to invaders of its own territory does not properly defend itself,” Meltz said.
