Republican 2024 presidential candidate and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie traveled to Kyiv to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy Friday.
CNBC reported that Christie made the surprise visit to Ukraine to bolster his primary campaign by showing his support for further Ukraine aid in its battle with Russia.
"I am an advocate for there being more aid to Ukraine, more substantial aid to Ukraine," Christie said, according to a pool report, adding that he wanted to help Ukraine "win the war."
According to the polling website FiveThirtyEight, Christie is polling under 2% in the GOP race, with former President Donald Trump way out in front with 53.3%.
Despite the low national number, a Manhattan Institute survey found that the former governor is polling at 11% in the early primary state of New Hampshire.
CNBC reported that Christie met with Zelenskyy at the presidential palace in Kyiv and visited Moshchum and Bucha, where the Russian military is accused of committing massacres of Ukrainian civilians.
"You feel the cruelty, and you feel the inhumanity," The New York Times reported Christie saying. "You look at this, and I don't think there's anyone in our country who would come here and see this and not feel as if these are the things that America needs to stand up to prevent."
According to the report, Christie is the second GOP candidate to visit the war-torn nation. Former Vice President Mike Pence traveled to Ukraine in June to express his support for the country.
Zelenskyy praised Christie's visit in a post on Telegram.
"I had a meeting with a member of the Republican Party, former Governor of New Jersey, Christopher Christie," he said in the post. "And it is very important that Mr. Christie began his visit to Ukraine with a visit to Bucha to see with his own eyes the threat to freedom and to everyone in the world posed by Russian aggression."
He said he used the occasion to thank Americans for their support and expressed his optimism of a victory against the Russian invasion.
"I thanked all Americans, each and every one, for their vital support," he said. "We are confident that we will end this Russian war against freedom with our victory — the victory of the free world, the victory of democracy, the victory of freedom."
Christie and Pence are positioning themselves against Trump and other GOP candidates who want to see an end to the aid.
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