Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair Gen. Dan “Razin” Caine told senators on Wednesday that he did not believe Russian President Vladimir Putin would stop at Ukraine if he succeeds in overtaking the country, a marked contrast to President Trump’s typical ambiguity on the question.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) asked Caine and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth whether Putin would “stop at Ukraine” in a series of rapid-fire questions on foreign conflicts.
“I don’t believe he is,” Caine told the Senate Appropriations subcommittee on armed services.
Graham turned to Hegseth with the same question.
“Remains to be seen,” Hegseth said.
The senator then said the answer was obvious.
“It doesn’t remain to be seen. [Putin] tells everybody around what he wants to do,” the South Carolina Republican said, noting that Russia’s build-up of ordnance is well beyond what it might need to take Ukraine.
“I like what you’re doing,” Graham added to Hegseth. “I just think we gotta get this stuff right.”
Graham had earlier asked Hegseth if he agreed the world miscalculated in its approach to Hitler in the years leading up to WWII.
“The danger that is like 50 million people get killed,” he said. “So, let’s don’t do that.”
Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), the subcommittee chair, came out of the gates asking Hegseth about Ukraine, asking which side he wanted to win the war. The Defense chief said the Trump administration wanted the killing to end but would not choose a side.
Hegseth criticized former President Biden’s handling of Russia and Ukraine before McConnell cut to say he agreed the previous administration was “completely inadequate,” and encouraged Putin with its withdrawal from Afghanistan.
“But we are where we are, and beating up the past is not a plan for going forward to the future,” the former Republican leader said.
He noted that other NATO members and Europe seemed to be spending more on defense generally and committed to increasing support for Ukraine.
“Everybody seems to be moving in the right direction, and they look at us and wonder whether we’re in the midst of brokering what appears to be allowing the Russians to define victory,” McConnell said.
Biden often spoke about Putin’s threat beyond Ukraine’s borders, both in terms of taking more territory in former Soviet states and emboldening autocrats around the world.
Trump promised to end the war within 24 hours of taking office but has made little apparent headway about five months into his second term. Russia has so far refused U.S. proposals for a 30-day ceasefire.
Trump has expressed increasing frustration with Putin, but often says he is unsatisfied with Ukraine as well.
After Ukraine carried out a stunning drone attack on Russian military bases on June 1, Trump complained it would set back his push for peace, comparing Russia and Ukraine to children fighting a schoolyard.
Russia has ramped up drone strikes on Ukraine since “Operation Spider Web,” on Wednesday launching what Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called the biggest strikes on Kyiv since the war began more than three years ago.
