Array
Florida governor Ron DeSantis (R.) called for less U.S. involvement in the «territorial dispute between Ukraine and Russia,» an apparent break from traditional Republican foreign policy voices who have urged staunch United States support for Ukraine.
DeSantis, in a statement provided to Fox News host Tucker Carlson, said that «while the U.S. has many vital national interests … becoming further entangled in a territorial dispute between Ukraine and Russia is not one of them.» DeSantis stopped short of calling for a freeze on U.S. military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine but said the United States cannot provide advanced weapons like missiles and aircraft.
«F-16s and long-range missiles should therefore be off the table,» DeSantis said. «These moves would risk explicitly drawing the United States into the conflict and drawing us closer to a hot war between the world’s two largest nuclear powers. That risk is unacceptable.»
DeSantis’s call for less U.S. involvement in Ukraine has set up an early showdown between 2024 Republican presidential candidates as they attempt to set themselves apart on the foreign policy front. The governor’s remarks appear to put him somewhere between former president Donald Trump, who has also opposed intervention in Ukraine, and declared presidential candidate Nikki Haley, who has been a strong supporter of aid for Ukraine—and are similar to the Biden administration’s position of support for Ukraine that stops short of F-16s and long-range missiles.
