Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy turned what "should have been a win" for his country — signing a minerals deal with the U.S. — into "a debate on American security guarantees during a peace negotiation" during his White House meeting with President Donald Trump, Rep. Mike Turner told CBS News' "Face the Nation" Sunday.
The Ohio Republican described Zelenskyy's actions as "inappropriate," saying that his public request for security guarantees during a meeting intended for a minerals deal signing was not the right approach.
"Zelenskyy had been negotiating with the United States on a minerals deal ... He had a successful deal. The United States had conceded. He was flying here under the pretext that he was going to sign this deal," Turner said.
"This should have been a win. ... In moments, he was going to be standing with the president of the United States with a win that he had negotiated. And instead of taking that win, he turned it into a debate on American security guarantees during peace negotiations, instead of taking that win and then from that going forward."
Turner said that first "the peace negotiations need to occur, and then we need to look at what are the construct of what security guarantees need to be and what is that construct that needs to be put in place."
"This is important because Ukraine is important. This is about the fight between authoritarianism and freedom and democracy," he said.
"So as we're watching this fight, we have to be concerned about what's crumbling here and what needs to be put back together. I think that's what we all felt in our stomachs as ... we watched what was at risk here."
Brian Freeman ✉
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.
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