Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) on Wednesday morning became the latest Republican to push back on President Donald Trump’s attack against Ukraine and its President Volodymyr Zelensky, as U.S. officials sit down with Russian leaders to discuss ending the war in Ukraine.

Lawler, who represents a suburban New York swing district and is eyeing a gubernatorial run, rejected a series of moves and comments by the Republican president, without directly mentioning Trump. Lawler is also a subcommittee chair on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Trump has rejected the idea of including Ukraine in peace talks, which are ongoing in Saudi Arabia between U.S. and Russian leaders, described Zelensky as a “dictator” for not holding elections during the war and accused Ukraine, rather than Russia, of starting the war that began when Russia invaded Ukraine.

“Vladimir Putin is a vile dictator and thug, who has worked in a concerted effort with China and Iran to undermine and destabilize the United States, Europe, Israel, and the free world,” Lawler said in a statement. “He is not our friend, nor our ally.”

He characterized Russia as part of an “unholy alliance that has caused death and destruction around the globe” and said that the U.S. “must beat [it] back.”

He said that any peace deal must include Ukraine as a negotiating party and must “protect its structural sovereignty and that of its neighbors.”

In an implicit rejection of Trump’s characterizations of Zelensky as a “dictator,” Lawler said, “With respect to elections, of course Ukraine should have free and fair elections — but that demand coming from Putin and Russia is both comical and self-serving.”

Russia, he continued, “must not be allowed to install a Putin puppet and apologist simply to seize control from within.”

A series of other national security-minded Republicans have also pushed back on Trump’s accommodating posture toward Russia in recent days, including his comments on Tuesday claiming that Ukraine, rather than Russia, had started the war.

Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS), the chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said that Putin cannot be trusted in negotiations and “is a war criminal who should be in jail for the rest of his life, if not executed.”

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) said that Ukraine has “got to be at the table,” adding, “They were invaded by Putin and he’s responsible for murder, rape, torture, kidnapping of an untold number of Ukrainians.”

Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD) rejected the idea that Ukraine was responsible for the war, saying, “I will simply make one statement: Russia attacked Ukraine.”

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said, “I blame Putin above all others” for the Russian invasion, while also claiming that Trump is “Ukraine’s best hope to end this war honorably and justly,” and suggested that Democrats had been too weak to stop the Russian invasion.