Republican Senate candidate backflips on Ukraine and blames Joe Biden for invasion

On February 19th, Republican United States Senate candidate JD Vance of Ohio complained that “it’s ridiculous that we are focused on this border in Ukraine. I got to be honest with you, I don’t really care what happens to Ukraine one way or the other.”

On Thursday, however, Vance completely changed his tune. In a lengthy press statement posted to Twitter by his campaign, Vance condemned Russian President Vladimir Putin’s attack on Ukraine as "unquestionably a tragedy, especially for the innocent people caught in the crossfire.”

Vance proceeded to praise former President Donald Trump - who routinely sucked up to the Russian autocrat – for his “strengh and diplomatic engagement that kept Putin in check.”

He then blamed the incursion on President Joe Biden’s “lack of leadership.” Biden, Vance said, “squandered” American energy independence.

Vance also falsely claimed that the Biden Administration’s true ambition is “military intervention by American or NATO troops,” which the president is said is absolutely not going to happen because it would be a “world war.”

Vance concluded by suggesting that geopolitical security in Eastern Europe has nothing to do with the American people.

Vance's full statement is below:

Vance's proclamation was not well-received.