LINCOLN — As peace talks and fighting continue in the multi-year fight since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, Nebraska’s governor and congressional delegation spoke out in defense of Ukraine and Nebraska’s interests.

Most of Nebraska’s Republican leadership agreed that Ukraine should not cede land as part of peace talks. Pillen, in an interview with KETV, threw his support behind giving Ukrainians permanent refugee status, as temporary refugee statuses for Ukrainians expire. Two members of Nebraska’s federal delegation agreed or said they were open to it — U.S. Reps. Don Bacon and Mike Flood.

“I agree we should give permanent legal status to Ukrainian refugees and an eventual pathway to citizenship,” said Bacon, who represents Nebraska’s Omaha-based 2nd Congressional District. “They love freedom and will make great citizens.”

The refugee status issue would require legislation in part because Ukrainians are fleeing an external foreign enemy and not an oppressive regime running their own country.

Putin ‘Will Stop At Nothing’

Every member of Nebraska’s congressional team blamed the war on Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Flood, who represents eastern Nebraska’s 1st Congressional District, said Putin thinks he is “Peter the Great” and wants to reestablish the Russian motherland while taking away people’s liberties, freedom and land.

“This guy’s a vicious killer, and he will stop at nothing,” Flood told the Nebraska Examiner. “I hope the good people of Ukraine don’t get to a spot where they consider giving up any ground to this guy.”

U.S. Rep. Adrian Smith, a member of the powerful U.S. House Ways and Means Committee and chair of its Trade Subcommittee, thanked President Donald Trump for efforts to bring Putin’s “ambitions” to an end.

Smith, who represents Nebraska’s largely rural 3rd Congressional District, said he appreciates the Trump administration’s efforts to address nations whose purchases from Russia, including energy, support the “illegal war.”

“Russia is the clear aggressor in this unjustified war, and it is my hope any solution ending the war ensures the Ukrainian people can resume normal life in a reconstructed nation and does not reward Russia’s actions with territory ceded by Ukraine,” Smith said.

Peace Deal Contours

U.S. Sen. Deb Fischer, a senior member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, also applauded Trump and said that while negotiations are still underway, any agreement needs “total buy-in from Ukraine.”

“We also need to pressure Russia to come to the table, which means applying additional sanctions on Putin,” Fischer said, noting she is a cosponsor of a bill to do that and would keep advocating for its passage.

She told Fox News this month that she doesn’t believe Putin is looking for peace.

U.S. Sen. Pete Ricketts, who served two terms as governor, said a peace deal needs to work for the people of Ukraine and, in a press call, said he would let Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy determine that. He agreed that the U.S. should continue to ramp up sanctions and “make it really painful.”

Ricketts said it’s also important to work with European allies to get them to stop importing Russian gas and ensure the U.S. is arming Ukraine to the best of its ability to resist Russian aggression.

“It’s not going to be an easy solution,” Ricketts said. “The president is working on a peace deal right now, and I’ll certainly let the Ukrainians decide if that is something that they want to pursue.”

Europe And NATO

Flood, who chairs the House Republican Main Street Caucus, a group of more than 85 congressional Republicans, agreed with Ricketts on arms. Flood said he is open-minded on what the United States can do to help and said the Baltic states see the prospect of Putin gaining ground as a “zero-sum game.”

“What’s to stop him from going to the next country?” Flood said. “Then we find ourselves in a trickier situation.”

Flood said it doesn’t make sense to put American troops on foreign soil now, but if NATO allies are attacked, the U.S. must act and do its part. He said he is in favor of Ukraine joining NATO.

Bacon, a retired Air Force brigadier general who served during the Cold War and has been among Nebraska’s most vocal defenders of Ukraine, has called Trump “the new Chamberlain,” referring to former United Kingdom Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, who ceded Czechoslovakian land to Adolf Hitler in 1938.

Germany invaded Poland in September 1939. Chamberlain resigned eight months later and was succeeded by Winston Churchill.

“Russia is the aggressor, and we shouldn’t reward aggression,” Bacon said.

Just this week, Bacon said he agreed with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz comparing Putin to Hitler. Bacon said in a post on X: “This is our late 1930s moment.”

Bacon last month told Axios he was “so angry” at a Trump-backed 28-point peace plan that he thought about resigning, which would matter because of how narrow the margins are in the Republican-controlled House. But Bacon said he needed to stay for his constituents.

He has already decided not to seek reelection.

‘When The Sun Comes Up Again’

Ricketts said what can be done economically to help rebuild Ukraine can also help the United States, such as with critical minerals or knowledge of drone technology, in a “win-win” situation.

Flood said he sees an “outsized role” for the University of Nebraska and agricultural research once the war ends and said he thinks the Ukrainian people should welcome Americans with “open arms,” given the amount of support the U.S. has provided.

Said Flood: “When the sun comes up again for them to rebuild a nation … we can do things for them with our resources that will make money for Americans too, and give us a bright opportunity to sell our products.”

This story was published by Nebraska Examiner, an editorially independent newsroom providing a hard-hitting, daily flow of news. Read the original article: https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2025/12/17/pillen-nebraskas-federal-delegat...