Iran Press/ America: Ron DeSantis, a possible Republican presidential candidate for the White House in 2024, underscores growing skepticism among Republican politicians of Washington’s support for Ukraine as it tries to fend off Russia’s invasion.
“While the US has many vital national interests, … becoming further entangled in a territorial dispute between Ukraine and Russia is not one of them,” DeSantis said in a statement to Fox News host Tucker Carlson this week.
“The Biden administration’s virtual ‘blank check’ funding of this conflict for ‘as long as it takes,’ without any defined objectives or accountability, distracts from our country’s most pressing challenges,” the governor said.
DeSantis, who has not yet announced his intention to run for president but is largely seen as Trump’s most serious rival in the 2024 Republican primaries, has championed right-wing positions on domestic issues, including abortion, education, and immigration.
But his comments on Monday mark one of the first times he has articulated a detailed position on Ukraine.
President Joe Biden, a Democrat, has made supporting Ukraine a key part of his administration’s foreign policy.
The US Congress approved more than $100bn for Ukraine through four spending bills last year – funds that the Biden administration has been dispensing through periodic military, humanitarian and budgetary aid to Kyiv.
“We cannot prioritize intervention in an escalating foreign war over the defense of our own homeland, especially as tens of thousands of Americans are dying every year from narcotics smuggled across our open border and our weapons arsenals critical for our own security are rapidly being depleted,” DeSantis told Fox News.
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