Olivier Douliery/Pool via AP
Rep. Liz Cheney on Sunday said that Russian President Vladimir Putin should not "reap any rewards" for his invasion of Ukraine, pointing to territory that could potentially be ceded to Russia during peace talks.
During an appearance on NBC's "Meet the Press," the Wyoming Republican stressed that Russia should not be rewarded for its relentless attacks against Ukraine nearly four weeks after they began invading the country.
"I think it's very important that Putin not reap any rewards at all for this aggression," she said. "I think territorial gains would be a reward for him."
She added: "I think that we cannot be in a situation where the security and the peace that has been guaranteed really since 1945 on the continent of Europe, certainly, suddenly now, powers believe that by the kind of onslaught that you've seen, the kind of war crimes, the kind of brutality you've seen Putin unleash that they can gain from that."
Cheney — who has been vocal against any sort of political sympathies towards Moscow in recent weeks — stressed that while the United States would remain firmly on the side of Ukraine, it would articulate that Putin should not stand to gain geographic advantages after Russian military forces delivered a ferocious assault on the country.
"I do think it's critically important for the United States and for NATO to be clear. Obviously, we are going to support President [Volodymyr] Zelenskyy," the congresswoman said. "But we need to be very clear — we do not believe Putin should be able to gain to benefit from the actions he's taken."
During a separate Sunday interview, Zelenskyy emphasized that Ukraine and Russia must come together to halt the conflict.
"If there is just a 1 percent chance for us to stop this war, I think that we need to take this chance," he told CNN's Fareed Zakaria.
The conflict has already displaced 6.5 million people throughout Ukraine and led to the departure of another 3.2 million individuals, according to the United Nations migration agency.
Per a US intelligence estimate, 7,000 Russian troops have died in the conflict, while roughly 1,300 Ukrainian troops have been confirmed as among those killed.
