Austin indirectly responds to Trump’s likely rival, who questioned aid to Ukraine
US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin commented on Wednesday on the statement of potential Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis, who does not consider aid to Ukraine to be a vital American interest.
Source: European Pravda correspondent, citing Austin following the results of the meeting of the Contact Group on Defence of Ukraine
Quote: "As for the importance of Ukraine, first of all, there has been bipartisan support for security assistance to Ukraine, and I hope that it will continue to be provided in the future. We have heard this from top leaders on both sides of the Atlantic, and I hope that we will continue to provide this support," he explained.
Details: The US Defence Secretary continued that Ukraine is important "not only for Ukraine or for the United States, but also for the whole world".
"It's about an international order based on rules. It's about the ability of one country to wake up one day and change the borders of its neighbour and annex its sovereign territory, and as we can see, countries around the world don't think that's a good idea," Austin said.
Background: Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who is one of the possible US Republican presidential candidates, has said that protecting Ukraine from the Russian invasion is not a vital US interest.
Though DeSantis acknowledged that "peace should be the objective", he warned that sending in troops or advanced weapons like F-16 fighter jets and long-range missiles "would risk explicitly drawing the United States into the conflict and drawing us closer to a hot war between the world’s two largest nuclear powers".
In response, the Foreign Ministry invited the US politician to Ukraine "to get a deeper understanding of Russia's full-scale invasion and the threats it poses to US interests".
Ron DeSantis has privately announced his intention to run for president of the United States, which could make him a real competitor to the current favourite of the party, Donald Trump.
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