Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., mocked on Friday the notion of Russian President Vladimir Putin reaching a peace deal for the war in Ukraine.
"As much as I would like to believe we can negotiate with a tyrant, I suspect we may be deceiving ourselves," Rounds said at the Halifax Security Forum, according to Newsweek. "Do you believe that this tyrant, if you offer him a part of a free country, do you think he's gonna stop? I wish I could say there's an easy way out, there's not."
Rounds' view of the war stands in contrast with that of President-elect Trump, who has vowed to reach a peace deal in the region upon his first days in office.
Moreover, despite the historical developments, such as the United States permitting one country to shoot its own long-range ATACMS missiles inside Russian territory, Rounds further expressed dismay that the U.S. has not provided more weaponry to Ukraine.
"I just feel so frustrated," Rounds bemoaned, "that we have not been able to provide them all of the equipment that they need, and all of the weapons systems that they need, in order to respond to the absolute tyranny coming from Russia."
"I wonder why we haven't done that more quickly than we have," he added.
Following a barrage from ATACMS missiles inside its own territory, which Putin said Ukrainian forces are incapable of operating, on Tuesday, Russia, one of the world's foremost nuclear superpowers, responded in kind by launching a hypersonic missile at the Ukrainian city of Dnipro.