Trump’s VP candidate Vance would be disaster for Ukraine - Politico
Republican James David Vance is one of the biggest critics of aid to Ukraine. Therefore, his election as a candidate for the US vice presidency could turn into a disaster for Ukraine.
According to Censor.NET, Politico writes about this with reference to one of the EU's senior officials.
While Europe was already in a panic over a second Trump presidency and its implications for US foreign policy, the addition of Vance to the GOP ticket raised further questions about the new administration's potential commitment to Ukraine.
Vance has been clear about his views on Ukraine. In 2022, he told Steve Bannon in an interview: "I have to be honest with you, I don't care what happens to Ukraine one way or the other."
On 20 April 2023, Vance, along with 18 other representatives of the US Republican Party, signed a letter to US President Joseph Biden stating that "unlimited US aid to Ukraine must end" and that the signatories would "strongly oppose all future aid packages unless they are linked to a transparent diplomatic strategy to bring this war to a swift end".
In February 2024, when Vance spoke for the first time at the Munich Security Conference, where he said that the US should reconsider its support for Ukraine, and missed a meeting with the Ukrainian delegation and other senators.
Since then, his rhetoric has become harsher: the 39-year-old senator has criticised Europe's dependence on the US for military spending and has criticised Germany, in particular, for failing to meet NATO's 2% of GDP defence spending target.
What is known about James David Vance?
Vance is an American senator and venture capitalist known for his memoir Hillbilly Elegy. He was born in 1984. In 2003, he enlisted in the Marine Corps, where he served as the Corps' public affairs officer during the Iraq War. He completed his service in 2007.
He graduated from Ohio State University in two years and Yale Law School in 2013. He first worked as an attorney in Illinois, then continued his career in Silicon Valley. In 2017, he became a partner of AOL co-founder Steve Case in Revolution LLC, a venture capital company operating in depressed regions of the so-called Rust Belt.
He has been quite consistent in his opposition to military and financial assistance to Ukraine. Prior to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's visit to Washington in December 2023, Vance demanded that the White House recognise that Ukraine would eventually cede some of its territory to Russia.
The US Republican Party at its convention on 15 July 2024 elected J.D. Vance as a candidate for Vice President of the United States as Donald Trump's running mate.
