‘Only if you give Putin what he wants’

WASHINGTON – Former Vice President Mike Pence chastised former President Donald Trump Monday over his campaign trail claims of being able to end the Ukraine war in 24 hours — which Pence said could only happen if the US kowtowed to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“My former running mate likes to talk about solving it in a day.” Pence told Fox News. “The only way you would solve this war in a day is if you gave Vladimir Putin what he wanted.”

The former allies, now running against each other for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, suffered a rupture in their relationship after Pence, 64, refused Trump’s demand to throw out the 2020 election results in key states on Jan. 6, 2021.

Pence, who recently became the first GOP candidate to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, added that forcing a hasty peace with Russia would threaten US national security and potentially draw the country into war.

“I’ve met Vladimir Putin, I’ve looked him right in the eye,” Pence said. “If Vladimir Putin overruns Ukraine – if he simply wears down the United States and the West – I have no doubt in my mind that he’s going to cross a border, maybe into Lithuania itself, or Estonia or Latvia or the countries in the Baltics.”

“And those would be countries where we’d have to send our armed forces to go and fight under our NATO Treaty,” he added.

The NATO security alliance – from which Trump, 77, reportedly wanted to withdraw during his presidency – holds that if one member country is attacked, the rest will come to its aid.

That clause, known as Article 5, has only been invoked once — after the 9/11 attacks on the US in 2001.

Asked what he would tell Trump on the debate stage about the war, Pence said he would continue sending Kyiv’s fighters “what they need to win” to bring the conflict to an end in Ukraine’s – and Washington’s – favor.

“I would say, ‘Look, the reason why Russia did not even attempt to redraw international lines by force during our administration is because we were strong,’” Pence said. “… I think it’s in the interest of our country to give them what they need to stop them there, repel them there.”

President Biden, 80, has sent Ukraine more the $42 billion worth of military aid packages since taking office – nearly all of which was dispatched after Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022.

But Pence said the White House has not moved fast enough on critical weapons systems.

“There’s only one pathway towards success here, and that is to give the Ukrainian military – much more quickly than Joe Biden has done – what they need to repel the Russian invasion and reclaim their country.”

Pence also criticized Biden for not explaining well enough to the American people “what our national interest is in Ukraine.”

“Joe Biden has not been leading in the way the American people want him to lead,” Pence said. “… He gives these gauzy speeches about democracy, but look – our interest there is to give the Ukrainian military the means to repel Russian aggression.

“Make no mistake about it, I think this is the most the most effective way to send a message to China that America and the West will not tolerate military aggression by Russia or by China to redraw international lines,” he added.