Senator Mark Kelly (D-AZ) said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” that he was shocked that Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) called the Ukraine war a territorial dispute.
Anchor Jake Tapper said, “Yeah, and obviously, the international criminal court put out a warrant for his arrest, based on the abducting of Ukrainian kids, which is just horrific and terrifying. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis this week said that the war in Ukraine, he described it as a territory dispute. He said that it’s not a, quote, vital national interest for the United States. You’re on the Senate Armed Services committee. Do you agree?”
Kelly said, “I was shocked. I think it’s stunning for the Florida governor who’s running for president to say this. I mean, what is he saying it for? To get votes? What happened to, you know, Ronald Reagan’s peace through strength? I mean, we need to show Vladimir Putin that it’s unacceptable for him to invade a neighbor. This is in our national security interest for him to lose. We can’t allow him to be successful. If he’s able to take Ukraine and win a war in Ukraine, who’s going to be next? It’s going to be one of our NATO allies. And then we’re going to be putting, you know, U.S. soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines in harm’s way. We don’t have to do that right now. We need to make sure that Ukraine wins this thing, and Vladimir Putin and his cronies are held accountable for this.”
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