Vance's stance on Ukraine raises doubts about U.S. foreign policy

- This is a disaster for Ukraine - said a high-ranking EU official in an interview with Politico, commenting on the selection of Ohio Senator J.D. Vance as the vice-presidential candidate. - We must quickly end the war in Ukraine so America can focus on the real problem, China - Vance said in a recent interview.

"While Europe had already panicked at the thought of a second Trump presidency and its impact on American foreign policy, Vance's inclusion on the list of Republican candidates has raised further questions about the potential new administration's commitment to Ukraine and the transatlantic alliance," writes Politico.

Vance has made his views on Ukraine clear. In 2022, he told Steve Bannon in an interview: - I have to be honest with you, I really don't care what happens to Ukraine.

In February 2024, when Vance first appeared at the Munich Security Conference, he told Politico that the U.S. must reassess its support for Ukraine and left a meeting with the Ukrainian delegation and other senators.

Since then, his rhetoric has become more sharpened. The 39-year-old senator criticized Europe's dependence on the United States for defence spending, and specifically criticized Germany for failing to meet the NATO target of allocating 2 percent of GDP to defence spending.

Vance himself, in his first interview after being selected as the U.S. vice-presidential candidate, suggested that the current administration could lead to nuclear war. - We must quickly end the war in Ukraine so America can focus on the real problem, China - he said.

- We have spent CAD 268 billion. What is the goal? What do we want to achieve? Is there a risk of escalation to nuclear war? Because there is if we have fools running foreign policy, which we currently have plenty of in Washington - Vance said in an interview with Fox News commentator Sean Hannity at the Republican convention in Milwaukee.

He responded in this way to his views on the war in Ukraine, which diverge from the majority of the party's mainstream.

- I think President Trump promised to go there and negotiate with the Russians and Ukrainians and bring it all to a quick end, so America could focus on the real problem, China. This is the greatest threat to our country and we are completely distracted - he added.

Vance also supported a tough policy towards Iran and that it should be "hit hard". He also accused Joe Biden of "doing nothing to help our ally Israel" and instead prolonging the war and making it harder to achieve lasting peace.

In an interview on Fox, the Ohio senator - who converted to Catholicism in 2019 - also softened his earlier stance on abortion, supporting Trump's stance to leave abortion policy in the hands of individual states.