Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who’s operating for the Republican presidential nomination, made an unannounced go to to Ukraine on Friday to fulfill with President Volodymyr Zelensky, whom he praised for demonstrating “the resolve it takes to outlive a conflict and finally win it.”
Mr. Christie is the second 2024 G.O.P. hopeful to go to Mr. Zelensky in Kyiv, signaling his assist for Ukraine in a conflict that has divided the Republican candidates and Republican voters. Former Vice President Mike Pence traveled to Ukraine in June.
Escorted by a Ukrainian safety element, Mr. Christie visited websites close to Kyiv that have been devastated throughout Russia’s drive towards the Ukrainian capital within the first months of the invasion, together with Bucha, a Kyiv suburb the place Russian troopers massacred greater than 400 individuals final April.
“There are a whole bunch of thousands and thousands of individuals in our nation who assist you,” Mr. Christie advised native officers in Moshchun, a village northwest of Kyiv, throughout a go to to a memorial overlooking a trench utilized by Ukrainian troopers throughout a battle in March of final 12 months.
The USA has offered Ukraine with billions of {dollars} in army and safety help since Russia’s invasion greater than a 12 months in the past, with President Biden typically framing the extraordinary stage of assist as a part of an existential combat for democracy towards authoritarian aggression in addition to being important to nationwide safety pursuits.
A majority of People proceed to approve of U.S. support to Ukraine within the battle, however that assist has softened over time, owing largely to rising Republican opposition. The share of Republicans saying the US is offering “an excessive amount of” assist to Ukraine has grown to 44 p.c from 9 p.c for the reason that Russian invasion in February 2022, in keeping with polling by the Pew Analysis Middle.
That shift has been led by former President Donald Trump, whose first impeachment resulted from his 2019 cellphone name to Mr. Zelensky pressuring him to research Mr. Trump’s political rivals after freezing a whole bunch of thousands and thousands of {dollars} in support to Ukraine. Mr. Trump, who maintained that he didn’t strain Mr. Zelensky, has stated defending Ukraine isn’t a significant nationwide curiosity for the US.
In a CNN town hall in Might, he refused to say whether or not he would proceed President Biden’s coverage of supplying weapons and ammunition to Ukraine if he returned to the White Home, or whether or not he supported Mr. Zelensky or Russian President Vladimir Putin within the battle.
“I would like everyone to cease dying,” Mr. Trump stated.
Mr. Christie stated that in his assembly with Mr. Zelensky, which was closed to reporters, the Ukrainian president “spoke about his want for there to be bipartisan assist for Ukraine.” He stated the topic of Mr. Trump didn’t come up.
“There was no dialog from him in regards to the race that I’m in,” Mr. Christie stated. He stated Mr. Zelensky advised him, “Whoever the following president is, I must have that particular person really feel a partnership with Ukraine.”
Ukraine coverage is an space during which Mr. Christie, a 2016 Trump rival-turned Trump adviser-turned Trump critic, has sought to attract a pointy distinction between himself and the previous president, calling Mr. Trump a “puppet of Putin” and mocking his current declare that he may negotiate “in sooner or later” a truce between Mr. Zelensky and the Russian chief.
“Transfer over Churchill, Trump is right here to save lots of the day,” Mr. Christie tweeted final month.
“I believe he actually likes strongmen,” Mr. Christie stated late Thursday of Mr. Trump in an interview aboard a practice to Kyiv. “I believe these are his function fashions when it comes to the best way he want to management energy if left to his personal units.”
Mr. Christie additionally criticized the Biden administration for not doing extra to assist the Ukrainian conflict effort, particularly its delays in supplying Mr. Zelensky’s authorities with F-16 fighter jets, which Mr. Biden had resisted doing for a 12 months earlier than approving the transfer in Might. “I might have been sending them months in the past,” Mr. Christie stated. He additionally favors NATO membership for Ukraine.
A New York Occasions/Siena ballot this week confirmed Mr. Christie trailing far behind Mr. Trump, who stays the overwhelming favourite within the race, with the assist of 54 p.c of seemingly Republican main voters.
“I want you political luck,” Anatolii Fedoruk, the mayor of Bucha, advised Mr. Christie throughout his go to to town.
“All of us hope for that, proper?” Mr. Christie replied, clapping him on the again.