On Monday (July 10), former Vice President Mike Pence rebuked former President Donald Trump for suggesting he could end the war in Ukraine in less than a day, saying that doing so would imply caving to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Pence, who is competing with Trump for the GOP Presidential nomination, made the comments when he was questioned on Fox News about how he thinks the conflict in Ukraine will end.
The former Vice President noted that the war ended “by giving the Ukrainians what they need to win,” before referencing Trump’s claim that he could “solve this war in a day,” explaining that the only way that could be achieved would be to give “Putin what he wanted.”
Pence, who previously chided Trump for showing his support for Putin, said that Putin would likely expand into the Baltic states if he could take over Ukraine, citing Lithuania, Estonia, and Latvia as examples.
The former Vice President highlighted that the U.S. would need to send “armed forces to go and fight under our NATO treaty” with these Baltic States.
He added that it would benefit the U.S. to aid Ukraine and “stop [Russia] there.”
Pence added this would be “the most effective way to send a message to China” that the U.S. and West wouldn’t “tolerate military aggression… to redraw international lines by force.”
Trump has consistently asserted that he would be able to end the crisis within a day since Russia initially invaded Ukraine in February 2022. However, he has not specified how he would do so.
Instead, Trump argued that the United States shouldn’t play such a big part in providing Ukraine with military assistance to fend off Russian forces.
Pence has emerged as possibly the most vocal GOP presidential candidate in favor of aiding the Ukrainians, going as far as meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Ukraine late last month.
