New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy and more than two dozen other U.S. governors spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy via video conference Tuesday to discuss the country’s ongoing war with Russia — now more than a year old — and pledge bipartisan support.
No video from the virtual meeting was released, but the event’s organizer, the National Governors Association, which Murphy chairs, provided comments Zelenskyy made during the call. It comes as some Republican officials have urged President Joe Biden’s administration to curtail sending U.S. military aid to Ukraine.
Zelenskyy said Ukrainian families are “torn by the war” and asked the governors to ponder what may happen if this “spreads further across Europe, through the cities and lands of your allies.”
“Ukraine is capable of preventing the expansion of the war,” he said, according to the NGA. “We are able to defeat Russia on our land. That is why we ask the USA for support, for weapons and finances.”
Zelensky also asked America to “stand with us” during Ukraine’s reconstruction, which he said will be the “the largest economic project in Europe in the lifetime of several generations.”
“Thank you, America, for the help that lets us win,” Zelenskyy added.
Murphy, a Democrat, said during a virtual news conference afterwards that Zelenskyy “made the point this isn’t just a Ukraine war” but an “existential threat to our freedoms everywhere, to our values everywhere” and added “we’re fighting so you guys don’t have to fight.”
“We will not leave the people of Ukraine in their time of need,” Murphy added in a tweet.
Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, a Republican who serves as NGA vice chair under Murphy, said “it’s easy to forget what’s actually happening over there” and this call was a “reminder to all of us on the terror that’s being inflicted on millions of innocent people.”
Asked how he feels about fellow Republicans who want to scale back or stop American aid to Ukraine, Cox said it’s a “false narrative” that it’s “a blank check or nothing” and stressed we “should always be very careful” about how the nation spends its tax dollars. But, he added, there is a “very unified front” among governors and many Republicans.
Much of the U.S.’s support to Ukraine comes from the federal government, which has sent more than $46 billion in military aid to the country during the war. America has also accepted more than 271,000 Ukrainian refugees.
Murphy said states have also sent a “huge amount” of help. That, the NGA said, includes deploying National Guard members, partnering with charitable organizations to send humanitarian aid, donating supplies from law enforcement, banning the sale of Russian products, and barring state governments from doing business with companies that have tied to Russia (as New Jersey has).
The New Jersey National Guard has sent equipment to the U.S. Army to help support allies. Meanwhile, nearly 1,500 Ukrainians have settled in New Jersey, state figures show.
In addition, Murphy said leaders use their “bully pulpits” to “remind our citizens of the importance and why we’re in this fight, amplifying the need to be unwavering in our support.”
Murphy, a former U.S. ambassador to Germany, has been a vocal critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. He has referred to Putin as a “thug” and often wears a Ukrainian flag pin on the lapel of his suits.
The governor — considered a potential 2024 presidential candidate — noted Tuesday he also made a surprise, “lightning” visit to Ukraine last month to meet with local leaders and refugees ahead of a visit to Germany for a global security conference.
Murphy was asked Tuesday if he’d be open to using Fort Dix in New Jersey to train Ukrainian soldiers.
“I’m not sure I’ve got an explicit answer to that,” he said, adding that some wounded Ukrainian soldiers have been getting treatment in the state.
Cox also said Russia poses a threat to other European countries and America’s NATO allies, which would “lead us into a much darker or dangerous place.”
Asked if the effort to help Ukraine detracts from the U.S.’s effort to deter threats from China, Murphy said: “Absolutely not.”
“To the contrary,” he said. “This is showing our will to defend freedom, to defend democracy. I think this is a holy cow moment for everyone who’s watching this, including the Chinese.”
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