US presidential candidate DeSantis calls for a truce in Ukraine – POLITICO

Republican Florida Governor and veteran presidential candidate Ron DeSantis said on Tuesday he supports the idea of ​​a ceasefire in Ukraine — a move long opposed by Kiev, which has set reclaiming its lost territory as a precondition for any talks with Russia.

“It’s in everybody’s interest to try to get to a place where we can stop the shooting,” DeSantis said He said In an interview with the Japanese English-language weekly Nikkei Asia.

“You don’t want to end up like A [Battle of] The situation in Verdun, where there are just so many casualties, huge expenses and you end up in a bind,” he said, referring to the longest battle of World War I, in which some 700,000 died.

The idea is likely to get a cold shoulder from Kiev, where Volodymyr Zelensky has been president He said A cease-fire would only allow Russia to regroup its forces, prolonging the war.

in 10 peace points plaLast November at the G20 summit, Zelensky put the restoration of Ukraine’s territorial integrity as a precondition for peace, stressing that this point “does not amount to negotiations.”

DeSantis’ remarks are the latest in a series of controversial comments made by the Florida governor — who has yet to formally announce his candidacy for the 2024 presidential election — regarding the war in Ukraine.

Last month, triggered fury Even within his Republican Party after he described the conflict as a “territorial dispute,” and said that “further entanglement” in Ukraine was not part of the “vital national interests” of the United States.