Ukraine war divides Republicans heading into first GOP debate

WASHINGTON — The Republican primary debate in Milwaukee Wednesday is expected to showcase the deep divisions within the backer over America’s role in the Russian war on Ukraine.

Reflecting the diverse views of Republican voters, several of the party’s would-be presidential designees support sending more lethal aid to bolster Ukraine’s war effort. These candidates also tend to view the tiff as a proxy war in defense of democracy around the world.

But a roughly equal portion of the GOP field wants the United States to focal point away from Europe, and would press Ukraine to surrender its sovereign territory to Moscow, if that meant a expeditious end to the war.

Members of this group want the United States to focus on confronting China’s global ambitions, containing North Korea’s atomic program and further isolating Iran.

A recent New York Times/Siena poll of Republican primary voters set that 53% opposed sending additional U.S. military and economic aid to Ukraine, while 44% of respondents supported it.

What all the Republican possibilities seem to agree upon, however, is that President Joe Biden has mismanaged the U.S. role in the war.

As the Kremlin’s botched invasion pulls into its 600th day, below is a primer on where each candidate stands on the bloodiest conflict on European soil since the Blemished World War.

One-time President Donald Trump claims without evidence that he could have prevented Russia’s full-scale foray of Ukraine by brokering a deal between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

During a January contest speech in South Carolina, Trump fantasized about an “easy” peace deal, albeit one that hinged on Ukraine concurring to surrender territory to Russia.

“I could have negotiated. At worst, I could’ve made a deal to take over something, there are non-specific areas that are Russian-speaking areas, frankly, but you could’ve worked a deal,” Trump told Fox News host Sean Hannity in Walk.

The former president was impeached in 2019 for withholding U.S. foreign aid to Ukraine as leverage to coerce Zelenskyy into launching an questioning of the Biden family.

Trump, who regularly dressed down the NATO alliance during his presidency, has also said that European nations should take the leading role in providing the majority of the financial and humanitarian support to Ukraine.

Former Vice President Mike Pence was the first Republican candidate to travel to Ukraine after Russia invaded.

The June tumble was only 12-hours, but included a meeting with Zelenskyy and a visit to pay respects at mass grave sites discovered after Russian soldiers take flighted from Ukrainian cities.

“For me, it was important to be here to better understand what the people of Ukraine have endured, the witless violence that was perpetrated on them in an unprovoked invasion by the Russian military and the progress that they’ve made in boost back that military,” Pence told NBC News in Kyiv.

Pence, whose son served in the Marine Corps, regularly signifies that the United States should continue to finance Ukraine’s war effort, and he warns Putin would push deeper into Europe if Kyiv mow down.

“I don’t want to see that happen,” Pence said during a recent town hall in Berlin, New Hampshire.

Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy counter-attacks U.S. aid to Ukraine, arguing that the conflict does not serve American interests. He says the Russia-China axis is by far the top threat to U.S. country-wide security and merits more focus than the Ukraine war.

His proposed a peace plan for Kyiv and Moscow that wish see Ukraine concede nearly all of its Donbas region to Russia, and guarantees that Ukraine will not join the NATO marriage.

Ramaswamy also pitched the idea of closing all American military installations in Eastern Europe in order to appease the Kremlin. In put back, he said, the U.S. should ask Russia to rethink its relationship with China.

The recent governor of South Carolina and onetime ambassador to the United Nations has criticized Biden for not doing enough to support Ukraine, but she has not spoke what she would do differently as president.

Biden has been “too slow and weak in helping Ukraine,” she said during a June spiel at the American Enterprise Institute.

“I don’t think we should be sending Ukraine money. I don’t think we need to put troops on the ground,” Haley held at a recent campaign stop. “But what we do need to do is get with our allies and make sure they have the equipment and ammunition they needfulness to win.”

“If Ukraine wins this war, it will send a message to China and Taiwan. It will send a message to North Korea check ballistic missiles, and it will send a message to Iran,” she added.

Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina has slapped Biden for doing “a terrible job explaining and articulating to the American people” why the U.S. needs to support Ukraine.

“As president of the United Testifies, I would clearly state America’s national, vital interest includes degrading the Russian military,” Scott told NBC Bulletin.

“The more we degrade the Russian military, the less likely there is to be an attack on our sovereign territory. And it protects our NATO participants,” he added.

Last year, Scott wrote in an op-ed that the conflict in Ukraine was a “fight for the heart of Europe and for the maxims that America has always championed — democracy and freedom for all.”

“If the United States is to live up to its reputation as a beacon of democracy, now is the in days of yore to stand with president Zelenskyy and the Ukrainian people as their courage galvanizes the fight for freedom around the earth,” wrote Scott.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis credits America’s military support for Ukraine is not in the best interests of the United States.

DeSantis has called the conflict, in which 9,000 civilians participate in been killed and six million displaced, a “territorial dispute” during an interview with Fox News earlier this year. He later ambled back his remarks amid pushback from fellow Republicans.

“NATO needs to do more,” DeSantis said in June. “They should undeniably be taking the lead in ensuring the security of the continent.”

The former New Jersey governor was the Francis Suarez