By Jimmy Quinn. Media: National Review.
Former vice president Mike Pence made an unannounced trip to Kyiv today where he met with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky. He’s the first 2024 GOP presidential candidate to travel to the country, and his visit overlaps with the start of Ukraine’s counteroffensive to seize territory occupied by Russia.
Pence also toured Moshchun, Bucha, and Irpin, three cities near Kyiv where Russian troops carried out grisly atrocities against civilians in spring 2022.
“I believe America’s the leader of the free world,” Pence told NBC this morning. “But coming here just as a private citizen — being able to really see firsthand the heroism of the Ukrainian soldiers holding the line in those woods, see the heroism of the people here in Irpin that held back the Russian army, to see families whose homes were literally shelled in the midst of an unconscionable and unprovoked Russian invasion — just steels my resolve to do my part, to continue to call for strong American support for our Ukrainian friends and allies.”
During his conversation with Zelensky, Pence conveyed his frustration that the Biden administration has dragged its feet on sending Abrams tanks and other weapons that Kyiv needs to wage a counteroffensive, Marc Short, Pence’s former chief of staff, told National Review. Short added that the former VP views support of Ukraine as crucial to keeping U.S. troops out of a conflict that would be provoked by a future Russian attack on a NATO country.
The backdrop to Pence’s unequivocal support of continued U.S. assistance to Ukraine is a fierce debate that has roiled the conservative movement and the GOP. Ukraine-aid skeptics have made headway in recent months, and dozens of Republican lawmakers voted against a supplemental funding package to support Ukraine in May of last year. Since the start of the war, Congress has authorized over $100 billion in funding for Ukraine, much of that dedicated to security assistance.
Pence’s camp views the trip as key to cutting a beneficial contrast with candidates who are skeptical of aiding Kyiv. “Mike is the only classical conservative in this race,” said Short. He pointed to Pence’s support of pro-life positions and his stance on fiscal issues, in addition to his advocacy of “the Reagan doctrine.” Citing a recent survey by the Reagan Institute, Short also told National Review that there is “a majority view that is more in line with traditional Republican Reaganism” on Ukraine and other foreign-policy issues. That poll, which was released this week, found that a majority of Americans support continued aid to Ukraine.
Supporting Ukraine’s war effort had been a core tenet of Pence’s messaging even before he announced his presidential bid. “It’s not a territorial dispute. It’s not an argument over borders and nations. It’s a Russian invasion. And it’s simply Vladimir Putin’s latest effort to redraw international lines by force,” he said, speaking at the National Review Ideas Summit in March. He seemed to be implicitly critiquing comments by Florida governor Ron DeSantis characterizing the war.
For his part, former president Trump has also expressed skepticism of continued U.S. military assistance to Ukraine, while entrepreneur and fellow 2024 GOP contender Vivek Ramaswamy has said that he would freeze U.S. aid to Ukraine to jump-start talks with Russia over a peace deal. Nikki Haley, former U.S. ambassador to the U.N., has taken a stance more similar to Pence’s, saying during a speech in Washington this week that the U.S. needs to help Ukraine defeat the Russian invasion because China is taking lessons from the war.
“We’ll let the polls and the politics take care of themselves, but for me it was important to be here to better understand what the people of Ukraine have endured, the mindless violence that was perpetrated on them in an unprovoked invasion by the Russian military, and the progress that they’ve made in pushing back that military,” Pence told NBC, when asked about a poll by the network that showed that most Republicans would be less likely to support a candidate in favor of continued assistance.
He also told NBC that the trip has “steeled my resolve, and it’s made me better equipped to be able to go home as I speak to the American people about the vital importance of American support to repel Russian aggression.”
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