Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie made an unannounced go to to Ukraine on Friday and have become the second Republican presidential candidate to fulfill with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy within the capital, Kyiv.
Christie met with Zelenskyy within the nation’s presidential palace after touring villages which have turn out to be battlefields since Russia invaded final 12 months. Through the assembly, he reiterated his help for continued U.S. support to Ukraine and mentioned the aim of his go to was “so I may see it for myself” and report again to the American individuals what the allied nation’s wants are.
“I really feel the cruelty, and you are feeling the inhumanity,” Christie mentioned whereas visiting the villages of Bucha and Moschun on the outskirts of Kyiv. “And also you take a look at this, and I don’t suppose there’s anybody in our nation who would come right here and see this and never really feel as if these are the issues that America wants to face as much as stop.”
Through the go to, Christie positioned flowers on the memorial complicated in Bucha, the place there was a mass grave of civilians, and prayed for Ukrainian volunteers who have been killed by Russian troops at the start of the struggle in Moshchun.
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Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie meets with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the presidential palace in Kyiv, Ukraine, on August 4, 2023. Christie grew to become the second GOP presidential candidate to journey to Ukraine, in an unannounced go to on Friday. (Workplace of the President of Ukraine)
“I actually suspected that if I noticed this in person who it might arm me to be a greater advocate for help, I feel, from the stuff I noticed right now simply now, and the assembly with the president … I feel I’m a lot better off,” Christie mentioned after his assembly with Zelenskyy.
Christie advised pool reporters the Ukrainian president expressed his need for continued bipartisan help for Ukraine in Congress, however didn’t touch upon the U.S. presidential race.
“He was very complimentary of President Biden, a few of the issues that he’s advocated for, but in addition made clear that he thought there was extra that wanted to be completed,” Christie mentioned. “There was no dialog in any respect from him about, you realize, the race that I’m in.”
The previous governor is the second GOP hopeful to go to Ukraine after former Vice President Mike Pence, who final month mentioned Ukrainian victory towards Russia was “within the nationwide curiosity of the USA, and the entire free world.” Within the Republican major, Pence and Christie, together with former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, are among the many most vocal supporters of continued U.S. aide to Ukraine.
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A U.S. delegation led by Republican presidential candidate Chris Christie meets with a Ukrainian delegation headed by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Aug. 4, 2023. (Workplace of the President of Ukraine)
In distinction, former President Donald Trump, the front-runner within the race, has known as for Congress to cease additional navy support to Ukraine till the Biden administration cooperates with Republican investigations into the Biden household’s allegedly corrupt enterprise dealings. Trump has additionally claimed that he may dealer a peace settlement to finish the struggle inside “24 hours” if he’s elected president once more.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis — who has voiced skepticism of additional U.S. involvement within the battle — has mentioned the U.S. ought to negotiate a cease-fire and keep away from placing U.S. troops on the bottom.
At a city corridor occasion in Columbia, South Carolina, final month, Christie known as the Ukraine-Russia battle “a proxy struggle between the USA and China” and argued that Ukrainians “don’t need American women and men on the bottom in Ukraine, nor would I ship American women and men on the bottom in Ukraine. What they need is the {hardware} to have a good likelihood to beat the Russians.”
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Former New Jersey Republican Gov. Chris Christie is briefed on the Ukrainian struggle effort in Kyiv, Ukraine, on August 8, 2023. (Workplace of the President of Ukraine)
Christie advised Zelenskyy on Friday that there shall be “political arguments” towards additional support for Ukraine however known as himself an advocate for the nation.
Zelenskyy thanked Christie for his go to and emphasised the significance of continued American help for the Ukrainian struggle effort.
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“I’d additionally prefer to sincerely thanks and your colleagues, specifically the Congress. We’re grateful for the bipartisan help, which is extraordinarily necessary to us. We’re very grateful to President Biden and his administration. This can be very necessary that your whole nation, all People, are on the aspect of fact and democracy, and they’re satisfied of Ukraine’s victory,” Zelenskyy mentioned, in response to his workplace.
Fox Information’ Caitlin McFall and the Related Press contributed to this report.