Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley said during an interview over the weekend that Republicans should be in favor of sending additional support to Ukraine in its war against Russia, arguing that it only constituted a small portion of the U.S. defense budget.
Haley made the remarks during a Sunday interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union” when asked about the G20 not condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in this year’s statement.
“It was a win for Russia and China. They’re celebrating today,” Haley said. “I mean, what we should have had was, Biden should have really pushed hard to acknowledge what he acknowledged a year ago, that Russia invaded a pro-American, freedom-loving country. And that’s a fact. And to deny a fact a year later is giving a win to Russia.”
Tapper then asked if some House Republicans were making a mistake by “fighting to strip $24 billion in aid to Ukraine out of the upcoming government spending bill.”
Haley responded, “I think that you have to look at the fact that 3.5 percent has been spent from our defense budget towards Ukraine. That’s just 3.5 percent. That percentage of GDP, 11 countries have spent more than us.”
“We know that Russia has said, once they take Ukraine, Poland and the Baltics are next, and then you’re looking at a full-on war,” she continued. “What we’re trying to do is prevent war. That’s a pretty good return on investment to prevent war.”
“I think that we need to continue giving them equipment and ammunition with our allies to win,” she said, adding that she did not want to put troops on the ground.
“Republicans and Democrats should not pull an Afghanistan,” Haley continued. “Don’t go pulling out now.”
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