Former Vice President Mike Pence, seeking an opening in the crowded 2024 GOP presidential primary field, says one way to prevent the United States from having to send troops into future global conflicts is to continue providing military and economic assistance to Ukraine in its war with Russia that many in his party oppose.
Mr. Pence has been looking to serve as a bridge between traditional conservatives and the war-weary members of the Make America Great Again movement who want the federal government to focus more on domestic challenges.
“If [Russian President] Vladimir Putin overruns Ukraine, I have no doubt that in a short period of time that [the] Russian military is going to cross the border of a NATO country that our armed forces will have to go and defend,” Mr. Pence said at the conservative Christian Family Leaders’ 2023 summit Friday in Iowa. “I want to give the Ukrainian military what they need to fight and repel the Russian invasion.”
“I think we need to stop them there so our men and women in uniform are never called upon to stop the Russian military when they cross a border that we would have to defend,” he said.
The issue of the best path forward with Ukraine has served as an early litmus test in the race for the 2024 GOP nomination.
Former President Donald Trump has driven the conversation, refusing to take sides in the battle, and vowing to end the war in 24 hours if he is elected. He has criticized the Biden administration’s strong support for Kyiv, underlined again at this week’s NATO summit in Lithuania.
Mr. Pence, however, has warned that Mr. Trump could only end the war with Ukraine in such a short period of time if he gave in to all of Mr. Putin’s demands and left Russian forces occupying large swaths of Ukraine. China, he added, is closely watching how the West reacts to Mr. Putin’s aggression.
Mr. Pence told the Christian voter forum Friday that stopping the Russia invasion would send a “deafening message to China that America and the free world will not tolerate China’s military ambitions in the Asia-Pacific.”
He also took issue with reports that the Ukrainian government is persecuting Christians, saying that officials in Kyiv told him when he recently visited Ukraine that this was not happening.
Mr. Pence’s stance has put him at odds with Mr. Trump and others on the right, including former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, who moderated the Family Leader event and pushed Mr. Pence to explain how he could support sending more taxpayer money to Ukraine when the money could go toward fixing problems at home.
“Anybody who says we can’t be the leader of the free world, and solve our problems at home has a pretty small view of the greatest nation on Earth,” Mr. Pence said. “We can do both.”
• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.
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