Former Republican Rep. and 2024 presidential candidate Will Hurd of Texas said Wednesday Ukraine should be admitted to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization “the day hostilities stop.”
Russia invaded Ukraine Feb. 24, 2022, launching a massive attack across the latter country. The United States has sent over $100 billion in aid to Ukraine, and announced in January they would send 31 M1 Abrams main battle tanks after announcing a battery of MIM-104 Patriot surface-to-air missiles would be provided in December.
“If I was a president of the United States, the first thing I would say is as soon as the day hostilities stop and Ukraine… will be admitted into NATO,” Hurd told CNN host Jake Tapper. (RELATED: ‘Sheer Lunacy’: 2024 GOP Candidates Oppose Adding Ukraine To NATO — At Least For Now)
“In order to bring that vision into fruition, I will talk and explain that the goal in Ukraine is to help the Ukrainians kick the Russians out of all of Ukraine, not just go back to the way things were in February of 2022, when the Russians invaded the most recent time, and I’d be working with our allies to make sure that the Ukrainians had all the material, all the equipment they need to do things like establish a no-fly zone over their own country,” Hurd continued.
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Hurd is unlikely to meet the qualifications to be on the stage for the first debate among Republican presidential candidates due to not reaching 1% in national polls and his refusal to sign a pledge to back the nominee.
The Biden administration announced Friday plans to primarily send Ukraine M864 155-millimeter artillery shells, known as Dual-Purpose Improved Conventional Munitions (DPICM), which dispense smaller explosive weapons over an area to attack personnel and vehicles. Cluster munitions are controversial due to the risk posed by “dud” submunitions that could cause harm to civilians long after a conflict is over and were last manufactured in the 1990s, the Washington Post reported.
“The quicker we help Ukraine win this war, the better it is for everybody else in country,” Hurd said. “I’ll be making sure the defense-industrial complex was improving its efficiency in delivering the kind of support that we’ve already said we would give the Ukrainians to make sure they have the tools in order to win this.”
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