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| Mike Pence meets with Volodymyr Zelenskiy during Ukraine visit – report | Mike Pence meets with Volodymyr Zelenskiy during Ukraine visit – report |
| (about 2 hours later) | |
| Former vice-president is first Republican presidential candidate to meet with Ukrainian president during campaign | Former vice-president is first Republican presidential candidate to meet with Ukrainian president during campaign |
| Former vice-president Mike Pence visited Ukraine this week and met with the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, according to a report by NBC News. | Former vice-president Mike Pence visited Ukraine this week and met with the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, according to a report by NBC News. |
| He’s now the first GOP presidential candidate to meet with Zelenskiy during the campaign. | He’s now the first GOP presidential candidate to meet with Zelenskiy during the campaign. |
| “I believe America’s the leader of the free world,” Pence told the network of the visit. “But coming here just as a private citizen – being able to really see firsthand the heroism of the Ukrainian soldiers holding the line in those woods, see the heroism of the people here in Irpin that held back the Russian army, to see families whose homes were literally shelled in the midst of an unconscionable and unprovoked Russian invasion – just steels my resolve to do my part, to continue to call for strong American support for our Ukrainian friends and allies.” | “I believe America’s the leader of the free world,” Pence told the network of the visit. “But coming here just as a private citizen – being able to really see firsthand the heroism of the Ukrainian soldiers holding the line in those woods, see the heroism of the people here in Irpin that held back the Russian army, to see families whose homes were literally shelled in the midst of an unconscionable and unprovoked Russian invasion – just steels my resolve to do my part, to continue to call for strong American support for our Ukrainian friends and allies.” |
| Pence’s visit reportedly includes stops in Moshchun, Bucha and Irpin – three cities that Russians have devastated in the last year and a half since declaring war on Ukraine. | Pence’s visit reportedly includes stops in Moshchun, Bucha and Irpin – three cities that Russians have devastated in the last year and a half since declaring war on Ukraine. |
| The visit comes on the heels of a failed coup launched by the Wagner Group earlier this month and amid large-scale emergency response exercises in preparation of “a possible terrorist attack” at the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant (ZNPP), according to CNN. | The visit comes on the heels of a failed coup launched by the Wagner Group earlier this month and amid large-scale emergency response exercises in preparation of “a possible terrorist attack” at the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant (ZNPP), according to CNN. |
| Pence has not shied away about showing support for Ukraine. Earlier this month, he said in a town hall he believes the US should continue to provide Ukraine with aid: “I know that some in this debate have called the war in Ukraine a territorial dispute. It’s not, it was a Russian invasion, an unprovoked Russian invasion. And I believe the United States of America needs to continue to provide the courageous soldiers in Ukraine with the resources they need to repel that Russian invasion and restore their territorial integrity.” | |
| In response to an NBC poll that claims 52% of GOP primary voters “would be less likely to back a candidate who supports sending more funding and weapons to Ukraine”, Pence told the network that he was in Ukraine “because it’s important that the American people understand the progress that we’ve made and how support for the Ukrainian military has been in our national interest”. | In response to an NBC poll that claims 52% of GOP primary voters “would be less likely to back a candidate who supports sending more funding and weapons to Ukraine”, Pence told the network that he was in Ukraine “because it’s important that the American people understand the progress that we’ve made and how support for the Ukrainian military has been in our national interest”. |
| “I truly do believe that now, more than ever, we need leaders in our country who will articulate the importance of American leadership in the world,” he continued. | “I truly do believe that now, more than ever, we need leaders in our country who will articulate the importance of American leadership in the world,” he continued. |
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| He added that 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”. | He added that 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”. |