Former Vice President and current presidential candidate Mike Pence made an unannounced visit to Ukraine Thursday, becoming the first declared 2024 Republican contender to meet with Kyiv’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky.
The 64-year-old made the trip with Samaritan’s Purse, an evangelical Christian humanitarian organization that the former VP previously accompanied to Poland and Ukraine, a Pence adviser said.
“This is bigger than politics,” Pence told NBC News.
“I really do believe that if Vladimir Putin and the Russian military were to overrun Ukraine, it wouldn’t be too long before they cross the border where our men and women would be required to fight,” he continued.
Pence has been among the most outspoken Republicans in support of Ukraine’s effort to fight off the 16-month-old Russian invasion, even as other prominent members of his party have publicly questioned the price tag of ongoing US military aid.
Zelensky tweeted that he and Pence “discussed our defense, interaction between our nations, security cooperation, and importance of partners’ determination and certainty regarding Ukraine’s future membership in NATO.”
The Ukrainian president added: “The support of the United States for our fight for freedom is vital. The support of all Americans, every American family, all civil society groups, the Congress – both parties, both houses, and of course the support of President Joe Biden. I am grateful for this support!”
In addition to meeting Zelensky, the former vice president was briefed on human rights violations committed by Russian forces, including the abduction of Ukrainian children.
Pence also was given a tour of the sites of Russian atrocities in the Kyiv suburbs of Moshchun, Bucha and Irpin and laid flowers near the Wall of Remembrance of the Fallen at historic St. Michael’s Cathedral.
“I believe America’s the leader of the free world,” Pence told NBC News. “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.”
Americans appear split on the prospect of further support for Ukraine. A NBC News poll released this week showed that 40% of voters would be less likely to support a candidate who backed providing additional funding and weapons to Ukraine, while 37% said they would be more likely to support such a candidate.
“We’ll let the polls and the politics take care of themselves,” Pence told the outlet, “but 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.”
Ukraine’s ongoing counteroffensive against Russia has seemingly been buoyed by the Wagner mercenary group’s revolt against the Kremlin last week.
Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin had been vexed by a move by Moscow to fold his forces into the Russian military and alleged that a friendly fire missile strike had killed some of his men.
Wagner’s drive toward Moscow ended about 120 miles south of the capital, with Prigozhin agreeing to exile in Belarus, along with his fighters who had participated in the coup attempt.
Pence is polling third among Republican candidates nationally at 5.7%, according to the RealClearPolitics average, behind only former President Donald Trump (52.4%) and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (21.5%).
