Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy demanded Wednesday that the U.S. end its support for Ukraine, calling the Eastern European country a bad ally that is losing its war with Russia.
“Portraying this as some kind of battle between good versus evil — don’t buy it,” Mr. Ramaswamy said, challenging his opponents in the third debate of the presidential primary season by saying he was the first to sound disapproval of Ukraine.
That drew sharp rebukes from other candidates on the Miami debate stage who said Mr. Ramaswamy and others who would abandon Ukraine don’t understand what’s at stake.
“[Vladimir] Putin and Xi [Jinping] are salivating at the thought that someone like that could become president,” said former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, referring to the leaders of Russia and China.
She called Ukraine a “freedom-loving pro-American country that is fighting for its survival and its democracy.”
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said Americans need to remember “the last time we turned our back on a shooting war in Europe” — in the years before World War II — and said the U.S. must back Ukraine.
“This is not a choice. This is the price we pay for being the leaders of the free world,” he said.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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