Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is making a dramatic change of tone to the war in Ukraine, calling Russian President Vladimir Putin a “war criminal” responsible, in another part of the interview. Piers Morgan teased in the New York Post.
DeSantis previously labeled the war was a “territorial dispute.”
DeSantis’ comments to Morgan come after he faced criticism from Republicans including Governor Chris Sununu, Senator Lindsey Graham and Senator Marco Rubio for saying his support The United States’ interest in Ukraine is not in the “vital” national interest, according to a statement to Fox News Carlson’s Tucker.
In his fiercest rebuke of Putin, DeSantis told Morgan that he thought his statement with Carlson was “confused.”
“Obviously, Russia invaded (last year) – that’s wrong. They invaded Crimea and took it in 2014 – That’s wrong,” DeSantis said.
Addressing the criticism for the first time, DeSantis attempted to clarify in the interview.
“What I’m talking about is where the fighting is happening, which is the eastern border of Donbas, and then Crimea, and you have a situation that Russia has been in. I don’t think it’s legal but they were. There are a lot of ethnic Russians there. So it’s a tough skirmish and that’s what I’m talking about and so it’s not that I think Russia has a right to that, and so if I should make that more clear, I was able to do that,” he said.
Morgan said he asked DeSantis if he thought Ukrainians would object to his calling the war a “territorial dispute.”
DeSantis replied:
“If I could snap my fingers, I would give Ukraine 100% back. But the fact that the US involvement in escalating conditions with more weapons, and certainly ground forces, I think would be a mistake. So that’s the point I’m trying to make but Russia was wrong to invade. They were wrong to take Crimea.”
President Joe Biden made it clear that he would not send US troops to Ukraine to join the conflict.
In the end, DeSantis told Morgan he thought Ukraine would prevail in the war.
“I don’t think it will end with Putin winning. I don’t think the Ukrainian government will be overthrown by him and I think that’s a good thing,” DeSantis said.
