Pence has been focusing on his support for Ukraine as a way to distinguish himself from other candidates in the race, including Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Former Vice President Mike Pence on Monday said he supports President Joe Biden’s decision to send cluster munitions to Ukraine despite pushback from some members of Congress, human rights groups and the prohibition on them in more than 100 countries.
Pence, who’s running for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, said in an interview on Fox News’ “America’s Newsroom” that it’s in the U.S. interest “to give the Ukrainians what they need to stop [Russians] there.”
“But Joe Biden’s been slow on it,” Pence said. “I mean, he just approved the cluster munitions, which the Russians have been using for a year and a half against Ukrainian forces.”
“I welcome the cluster munitions,” added Pence, who suggested that providing these weapons to Ukraine is key to the country’s success in battling Russia. “I think it ends by giving the Ukrainians what they need to win.”
His remarks come as President Joe Biden is set to meet with U.S. allies at the NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania. Ukraine is expected to be a central issue during the meetings Biden holds there. A number of America’s closest allies — the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Spain — have opposed sending the weapons to Ukraine.
Biden has also received blowback from members of his own party. Nearly two dozen congressional Democrats expressed frustration with the administration on Friday, echoing warnings from human rights groups that the cluster munitions could harm civilians.
The munitions are surface-to-surface warheads that disperse small munitions or bombs over wide areas, which can explode long after a conflict is over and sometimes injure or kill innocent people. The Pentagon announced on Friday that the weapons would be part of another aid package to Ukraine.
Biden defended the decision in an interview that aired on Sunday with CNN’s Fareed Zakaria, arguing that Ukraine needed them because its forces are running out of ammunition.
Pence, meanwhile, has been focusing on the war on the campaign trail, offering Ukraine full-throated support that has distinguished himself from some of the other GOP challengers, including former President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
The former vice president made a surprise visit to Ukraine in late June, becoming the first Republican presidential candidate to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during the 2024 election cycle.
Trump, on the other hand, has not publicly expressed support for Ukraine. In fact, he deflected numerous times during a CNN town hall in May when asked if he would supply weapons and equipment to Ukraine if he were president again. He said the war would never have happened under his watch and that he could broker a deal between Russia and Ukraine in 24 hours.
DeSantis said in mid-March, before officially announcing his presidential bid, that protecting Ukraine is not a “vital” national interest for the U.S. and labeled it a “territorial dispute.” A few days later, the GOP governor reversed course by calling Putin a “war criminal.”
Pence appeared to take aim at both Trump and DeSantis in his interview Monday.
“My former running mate likes to talk about solving it in a day. The only way you’d solve this war in a day is if you gave Vladimir Putin what he wanted,” he said.
Later, without naming DeSantis, he added, “This is a straight-up Russian invasion. This is not a territorial dispute.”