Vice President Kamala Harris' approach to Ukraine in its war against Russia should she win the presidency remains unclear.
As the Democratic Party's presidential nominee, Harris will face former President Donald Trump in November's election.
Should she win, Harris will replace President Joe Biden, who has led a broad international coalition in support of Ukraine.
"Substantively, Kamala Harris is similar to Joe Biden – she's a liberal internationalist who supports global coalitions, a powerful NATO and a strong Europe," a former Biden aide told The Telegraph.
"But in their diplomatic style, they couldn't be more different. Strangely, given all the attention on Biden's physical challenges, he has been far more energetic and assured than Harris over Ukraine. She squandered several opportunities to establish a decent rapport with [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelenskyy and her uncertain handling of the crisis does not bode well if she wins the presidency."
Time magazine reported that days before Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Harris and Zelenskyy had a tense strategic disagreement at the Munich Security Conference over how to handle an expected attack.
Harris reportedly rejected Zelenskyy's requests for sanctions on Russia to delay an attack, or desired weapons to deal with an invasion.
Harris, who has met Zelenskyy six times, boosted Ukraine's defense against Russia as recently as June, when she pledged the U.S. would provide $1.5 billion to support Ukraine's energy infrastructure and to supply humanitarian assistance, according to The Telegraph.
Still, she has said and done things that have bothered Ukrainian officials.
One example occurred during a press conference in Poland two weeks after the Russian invasion. Harris laughed while discussing refugees who had fled from Ukraine after Russia President Vladimir Putin's invasion.
"It would be a tragedy if this woman won the presidency," former Ukrainian press secretary Iuliia Mendel wrote on Twitter.
Rasmussen Global CEO Fabrice Pothier, in a Politico opinion column, urged Harris to take a new approach with Ukraine if she wins the presidency.
"Ukraine needs to strengthen its position before any possible peace negotiations, while Trump has implausibly promised to end the war in one day," wrote Pothier, whose organization is an international political consultancy firm, headquartered in Brussels and Copenhagen.
"Amid all this, Harris could start defining her own, more realistic strategic bargain — a plan that should demonstrate Ukraine and its European allies can assure the bulk of the forces needed to defend Ukraine, with the U.S. providing a smaller but still indispensable share."
Charlie McCarthy ✉
Charlie McCarthy, a writer/editor at Newsmax, has nearly 40 years of experience covering news, sports, and politics.
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