On Ukraine invasion anniversary, Brian Mast blasts Russians as aggressors, calls them ‘the enemy’

House Foreign Relations Chair Brian Mast slammed Russian President Vladimir Putin while marking the anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine.

“Today’s three-year anniversary marking the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is no cause for Russian celebration,” Mast said in a statement released through his committee. “It marks the anniversary of the largest tactical and strategic blunder in Russian history.”

The comments from the Stuart Republican stand in contrast to comments from President Donald Trump, who recently placed the onus on Ukraine for the ongoing conflict. “You should have never started it,” Trump posted on social media in comments directed at Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Mast, however, clearly called out the Russians as invaders in his Monday statement.

“While Russia has brought brutality against civilians and soldiers alike, raping women and kidnapping children, Ukraine is slaughtering hundreds of thousands of Russian conscripts who have invaded their country,” Mast said. “Ukraine is likewise annihilating the soldiers Vladimir Putin imported from Kim Jong Un’s North Korea and overcoming the financial and military support flowing from China and Iran.”

But Mast, a vocal supporter of Trump, suggested he still trusts Trump to bring peace, and suggested the U.S. won’t appease Russia in the process.

“President Trump has recognized the need to end this carnage,” Mast said. “He will never be Neville Chamberlain, he will not seek a premature peace that allows the enemy to regroup, and he will settle for nothing less than sustained peace backed by a Europe which is capable of defending itself from Russia.”

Chamberlain, the Prime Minister of Great Britain from 1937 to 1940, signed the Munich Agreement in 1938 allowing Nazi Germany to annex Czechoslovakia, which he predicted would guarantee “peace for our time” but which history has recalled as a failed attempt to appease German Fuhrer Adolf Hitler before the start of World War II.

Trump since his election has taken a starkly different position on Ukraine than predecessor President Joe Biden, and has said he will broker a peace between Russia and Ukraine.

Mast said responsibility also falls on other European nations.

“Europe must meet the moment and match Russian military spending and recruitment,” Mast said. “Europe must realize that for our alliance to be the strongest in history, America needs a Europe that can hold its own.”