Trump’s VP pick is outspoken critic of US aid to Ukraine

Senator JD Vance has repeatedly argued for negotiating an end to the conflict between Kiev and Moscow

Senator JD Vance, the Ohio Republican nominated to be Donald Trump’s running mate in November, has made his mark on Capitol Hill by lambasting Washington’s open-end commitment to funding Kiev.

Vance, the best-selling author of ‘Hillbilly Elegy’, was elected to the Senate in 2022. Trump announced his nomination for vice-president on Monday evening, on the first day of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.

“I certainly admire the Ukrainians who are fighting against Russia, but I do not think that it is in America’s interest to continue to fund an effectively never-ending war in Ukraine,” he said in May, in a speech at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft.

In late April, when the Senate approved a $61 billion package of new military aid to Ukraine, Vance invoked his experience in the military to rebuke his colleagues.

“I served my country honorably, and I saw when I went to Iraq that I had been lied to,” he said on the Senate floor, adding that “the promises of the foreign policy establishment of this country were a complete joke.”

US has ‘no viable plan’ for Ukraine

Prior to the Senate vote, Vance wrote an op-ed in the New York Times, arguing that the White House’s math on Ukraine just doesn’t add up. President Joe Biden “failed to articulate even basic facts” about the reality on the ground, Vance wrote, and the Biden administration “has no viable plan for the Ukrainians to win this war.”

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US has ‘no viable plan’ for Ukraine – senator

“Ukraine’s challenge is not the GOP; it’s math,” the Ohio Republican wrote. “Ukraine needs more soldiers than it can field, even with draconian conscription policies. And it needs more matériel than the United States can provide.”

The US insistence on not negotiating with Russia is “absurd” and Vladimir Zelensky’s goal of restoring Ukraine’s 1991 borders is “fantastical,” Vance added, urging Kiev to hold on until some kind of peace can be brokered by Washington. 

“The notion that we should prolong a bloody and gruesome war because it’s been good for American business is grotesque. We can and should rebuild our industrial base without shipping its products to a foreign conflict,” he wrote, taking aim at the White House’s argument that funding Kiev was good for the US military industry.

Ukraine is ‘functionally destroyed’

“Everyone with a brain in their head knows that this is going to end with negotiations,” Vance told CNN’s Jake Tapper  in April, prior to the Senate vote. “Ukraine is functionally destroyed as a country. The average age of a soldier in their army is 43 – that’s older than me.”

“We need to bring the killing to a stop and that’s what American leadership should be doing, not writing more blank checks to the war,” he concluded.

Russia has ‘distinct interests’

“I’ve never once argued that [Russian President Vladimir] Putin is a kind and friendly person. I’ve argued that he’s a person with distinct interests, and the United States has to respond to that person with distinct interests,” Vance said in February, at the Munich Security Conference.

He also urged the European members of NATO to boost their military manufacturing so Washington could focus on China. “We want Europe to be successful, but Europe has got to take a bigger role in its own security. You can’t do that without industry,” he said.

Aid to Kiev is a ‘time bomb’ against Trump

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Ukraine aid bill is a Trump impeachment ‘time bomb’ – US senator

Earlier that month, Vance took aim at the draft of the Ukraine aid bill – the one that ended up getting passed in April – arguing that it amounted to a “time bomb” against Trump should the Republican get re-elected.

Noting that the funding would expire “nearly a year into the possible second term of President Trump,” Vance suggested the Democrats could impeach him should he pause or cancel that aid in order to pressure Kiev into negotiating. The bill was “an attempt by the foreign policy blob/Deep State to stop President Trump from pursuing his desired policy.”

Zelensky’s argument is ‘disgraceful’

Last December, Vance accused Vladimir Zelensky of “lecturing” Americans and “demanding” more of their taxpayer dollars. Commenting on a speech given by the Ukrainian leader during a visit to Washington, in which he suggested the US lawmakers opposing the bill were helping Russia, Vance said that “if you want to secure your border first, you are actually a Putin puppet: He said this publicly today.” The Ohio Republican called such behavior “disgraceful” and “grotesque.”

Ukraine as Democrats’ ‘payback’ for 2016

In October, Vance framed the ruling Democrats’ insistence with funding Ukraine as part of their obsession with alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 US elections – conclusively proven to have been an invention of Hillary Clinton’s campaign.

READ MORE: Democrats want to ‘bleed Ukraine dry’ – US senator

“A lot of the anti-Russia obsession on the left has nothing to do with Ukraine. It’s a revenge fantasy over 2016,” Vance wrote on X (formerly Twitter). “They blame Russia for Donald Trump’s election and they’ll bleed Ukraine dry for payback.”