Pence meets with Zelensky during surprise trip to Ukraine

Former Vice President Mike Pence made a surprise trip to Ukraine Thursday and met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in a show of support for the country as it fights against invading Russian forces.

Pence, who is running for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, was expected to make stops in Irpin, Bucha and Moshchun during his visit. He is the first GOP presidential candidate to visit Ukraine since announcing a campaign for the White House.

The former vice president made the trip with Samaritan’s Purse, an evangelical humanitarian organization. He received a briefing on human rights violations happening in Ukraine, background from Ukrainian officials on efforts to defend Moshchun from Russian attacks and on the current security situation in the country, according to a Pence adviser.

Pence also laid flowers at a Wall of Remembrance of the Fallen for Ukraine at St. Michael’s Cathedral in Kyiv, the adviser said.

The former vice president has been among the most outspoken Republican candidates in urging continued U.S. support for Ukraine, notably breaking with front-runners like former President Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), who have suggested it is not in America’s interest to provide military aid to Ukraine.

“I believe America’s the leader of the free world,” Pence told NBC News in an interview about the trip. “But coming here just as a private citizen — being able to really see firsthand the heroism of the Ukrainian soldiers holding the line in those woods, see the heroism of the people here in Irpin that held back the Russian army, to see families whose homes were literally shelled in the midst of an unconscionable and unprovoked Russian invasion — just steels my resolve to do my part, to continue to call for strong American support for our Ukrainian friends and allies.”

Pence has made clear since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine in early 2022 that U.S. support for Ukraine is vital. He has argued that while it is not America’s war, the fight in Ukraine is part of a broader struggle for freedom abroad that is in U.S. interests.

He has been critical of the Biden administration for the pace of providing military equipment to Ukraine to fight Russian forces, and he has swiped at Trump for his praise of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Pence in March 2022 met with refugees who had spilled over the Ukrainian border into Poland.

Updated at 11:57 a.m.