'Putin is bad doesn't mean Ukraine is good': Vivek Ramaswamy says US should not send a dime to Zelensky

Indian-American Vivek Ramaswamy, who is running for US president, on Sunday said Washington should not send another dime to Ukraine and there was a need to negotiate a deal with Russia that weakens its alliance with China. He also said that the US should not be involved in "another forever-war".  

"That 'Putin is bad' doesn't mean that Ukraine is good," Ramaswamy said while reacting to a post by Nikki Haley, another presidential candidate from the Republican Party. "Ukraine has banned 11 opposition parties and consolidated all TV into *one* state broadcaster. It's corrupt."

Haley, who backs Washington's support for Ukraine, on Sunday said that "those who would abandon Ukraine today are at risk of abandoning Israel tomorrow". "They've lost sight of who our friends are, who our enemies are, who is good and who is evil. That is NOT who you want in the Oval Office."

Ramaswamy appeared not very convinced with the equivalence drawn by Haley between Israel and Ukraine. He said most of the "occupied regions in the Donbas" are Russian-speaking and haven't voted in the Ukrainian parliamentary elections for nearly a decade. "We shouldn't send another dime to Ukraine and need to negotiate a deal with Russia that weakens its alliance with China."

The Indian-American had also disagreed with Haley when she called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to 'finish' Hamas. Though Ramaswamy believed that Hamas should not exist, he said shouting 'finish them' is not a coherent solution to a complex problem. 

Ever since Russia began its ground operations in Ukraine in February 2022, the US has provided billions of dollars in aid to Kyiv. In a fact sheet shared after one year of war, the White House in February said the US had sent dispatched to Ukraine anti-armor and anti-air systems like 8,000 Javelin and 1,600 Stingers, 160 howitzers, 38 High Mobility Artillery Rocket systems (HIMARS), and 109 Bradley infantry fighting vehicles and tanks.

The Biden administration also provided with more than one million rounds of artillery ammunition, 100,000 rounds of 125mm tank ammunition, and 100,000 rounds of small arms ammunition besides committing along with its European partners $50 billion in security assistance.  

While incumbent US President Joe Biden is determined to support Kyiv in its fight against Moscow, Ramaswamy has promised that he will cut aid to Ukraine if elected as the president. He said the Ukraine-Russia war does not advance American interests and that the Russia-China alliance is the single biggest threat to the future existence of the US.

Ramaswamy, through his speeches, has also explained what he will do to tackle the crisis and not let Russia fall in China's lap. In an interview with Fox News, the American entrepreneur-turned-politician said that if elected as US president, he would offer to freeze the current lines of control between Ukraine and Russia, make a hard commitment that NATO will not admit Ukraine into it, and lift sanctions. In return, he said, Russia would have to exit its military alliance with China.

"Russia has to exit its military alliances with China. Right now, we're pushing Russia further into China's hands. The Russia-China military alliance is the single greatest threat that the United States faces today," he said while speaking to Fox News.