Sen. Lindsey Graham and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who were once pro-Ukraine, have shifted their tones, following the tense Oval Office meeting between President Donald Trump and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy last week.
"You're the ally I've been hoping for all my life," Graham said to Zelenskyy on February 14. "Not one American has died defending Ukraine. You've taken our weapons and you've kicked their ass."
"I'm very proud to have you as our ally," Graham continued.
On Friday, after the contentious exchange, Graham said: "I don't know if we can ever do business with Zelenskyy again."
"The way he handled the meeting, the way he confronted the president, was just over the top," Graham added.
Similarly, Rubio's tone toward Ukraine's fight against Russia has softened since he was a senator in 2022.
"There always has to be a real, legitimate Ukrainian state that we have a relationship with," Rubio told MSNBC on March 1, 2022.
"And I don't know why we can't begin to openly say, we will support them as long as they are willing to fight, even if it's an insurgency."
"That's what Zelensky did, unfortunately, is he found every opportunity to try to Ukraine-splain on every issue," Rubio said on Sunday to ABC News' George Stephanopoulos, following the Zelenskyy-Trump dust-up. "We all understand, okay, that Putin is not going to be an easy negotiator in this regard."
"But we have to start the process to see if something is even possible," Rubio conceded, marking a departure from fully supporting Ukraine to the point of insurgency.
