Mitch McConnell Warns 'Coddling' Putin Won’t Bring Peace in Rare Op-Ed Attack on Donald Trump Amid Health Woes

Sen. Mitch McConnell said that President Donald Trump’s method of dealing with Russia won’t lead to an end to the war between Russia and Ukraine.

McConnell expressed this concern in an opinion piece titled “Coddling Putin Won’t Bring Peace to Ukraine,” which was published in the Wall Street Journal on Sunday, October 25.

“President Trump’s gambit to end Russia’s war in Ukraine by pressuring the victim is certain to fail,” he wrote.

McConnell fired off a broadside against Trump’s assertion that Russia “has been fine on Ukraine” while Vladimir Putin ignored Trump’s appeal for an energy cease-fire.

McConnell called Trump’s position “factually wrong, strategically naive and morally bankrupt,” adding, “History shows that such behavior emboldens Russia’s autocrat, who sees it as weakness.”

McConnell also expressed concern that threatening to withhold military and intelligence help from Ukraine could actually extend the conflict. “This could prolong the war, not shorten it,” McConnell wrote, noting that “Mr. Putin is America’s enemy.”

McConnell attacked the agreement Trump announced on Friday, October 9, to import Russian diesel, which came after U.S. diesel prices hit record highs. “When Russia’s limited supply of diesel has changed hands, it will have done little to bring down prices at the pump,” McConnell wrote.

Earlier this month, 12 senators from both parties asked Trump to rescind the agreement in a letter, calling the deal “a gift to our adversary and a betrayal of our allies.” The deal aimed to bring down high U.S. diesel prices, and Trump blamed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for the high cost of diesel in the U.S.

McConnell appeared to respond to comments made by Trump envoy Steve Witkoff, who had recently referred to Putin as a “humanitarian.”

“If the president means what he says about ending the conflict, he should look to the wisdom of the American people, not naive businessmen who seem to think diplomacy entails fawning over adversaries,” McConnell wrote. “Mr. Putin is many things, but he is no humanitarian.”

The op-ed’s subheadline warned that “Trump’s obeisance to the Kremlin also imperils his legislative agenda in the lame-duck Congress.” McConnell, chair of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, pointed to the one-time defense spending he has urged the administration to include in full-year appropriations.

McConnell, 84, has rarely appeared in public recently. He returned to the Senate on Monday, September 14, after being absent for approximately three months because of a fall at his Washington, D.C., home in June that left him briefly unconscious, and he arrived for votes in a wheelchair, according to CNN.

“My recovery has been a long and often frustrating process, and the lingering effects of childhood polio haven’t made it any easier,” McConnell said in a statement at the time. McConnell, who led Senate Republicans from 2007 until 2025, is retiring when his term expires early next year.