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 party 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 nominees support sending more lethal aid to bolster Ukraine’s war effort. These candidates also tend to view the conflict 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 pivot away from Europe, and would press Ukraine to surrender its sovereign territory to Moscow, if that meant a quick end to the war.

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

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

What all the Republican candidates 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 drags into its 600th day, below is a primer on where each candidate stands on the bloodiest conflict on European soil since the Second World War.

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

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

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

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

Trump, who regularly dressed down the NATO alliance during his presidency, has also said that European countries 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 trip was only 12-hours, but included a meeting with Zelenskyy and a visit to pay respects at mass grave sites discovered after Russian soldiers retreated from Ukrainian cities.

“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 News in Kyiv.

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

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

Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy opposes 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. national security and merits more focus than the Ukraine war.

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

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

The former 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 said what she would do differently as president.

Biden has been “too slow and weak in helping Ukraine,” she said during a June speech 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 said 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 need to win.”

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

Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina has slammed 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 States, I would clearly state America’s national, vital interest includes degrading the Russian military,” Scott told NBC News.

“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 partners,” 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 principles 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 time to stand with president Zelenskyy and the Ukrainian people as their courage galvanizes the fight for freedom around the world,” wrote Scott.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis believes 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 have been killed and six million displaced, a “territorial dispute” during an interview with Fox News earlier this year. He later walked back his remarks amid pushback from fellow Republicans.

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

The former New Jersey governor was the second Republican candidate to visit Ukraine after Pence.

Christie’s August trip included a visit to Bucha, a village whose residents gave some of the first large-scale accounts of torture, rape and executions under Russian occupation.

“I don’t think there’s anyone in our country who would come here and see this and not feel as if these are the things that America needs to stand up to prevent,” Christie told reporters in Bucha.

“I think the way we need to look at this as a proxy war with China. The Chinese are supplying the Russians with money by buying their oil. The Chinese are providing drones to the Iranians, and the Iranians are using those drones to kill soldiers in Ukraine,” Christie said during a June CNN town hall.

Miami Mayor Francis Suarez has called for NATO allies to do more in Ukraine, but has yet to detail what that means.

In March, he slammed fellow Floridian Ron DeSantis over his position on the war, writing in the National Review, “it doesn’t take a Harvard lawyer to see that the war in Ukraine is not a territorial dispute.” DeSantis has a law degree from Harvard.

Evoking his Cuban American heritage, Suarez framed the conflict in Ukraine as war against authoritarianism, a “moral and geopolitical struggled between two competing visions of the world.”

“I know firsthand about the tactics and methods of communist regimes,” wrote Suarez.

Former Texas. Rep. Will Hurd of Texas wants Ukraine to retake all the territory under Russian occupation, including Crimea, annexed in 2014.

A retired CIA officer, he has also called for sending “as much weaponry” to Ukraine as possible, and establishing a no-fly zone.

Hurd took aim at Republican frontrunners Trump and Desantis over Ukraine in a June interview.

“I wish they would stop fighting with American companies like Disney and be more interested in supporting our allies against attacks against democracy,” he said on “This Week.”

Hurd did not qualify for the first presidential debate Wednesday in Milwaukee,

North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum says his goal is to “get this war over” as soon as possible.

He has called on members of the NATO alliance to shoulder more of the burden, and he supports greater oversight of U.S. financial and security assistance to Ukraine.

Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchison has leveled criticism at the Biden administration for not supplying weapons quickly enough to Ukraine, like F-16 fighter jets and Abrams tanks.

“If we stand by and let this nation falter, it leaves a hostile Russia on the doorstep of our NATO allies,” he tweeted on the one year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.