Former VP Mike Pence speaks at UT Austin one year after start of Russia-Ukraine war

AUSTIN, Texas - Former Vice President Mike Pence was at UT Austin, speaking one year after the start of the war in Ukraine.

Pence praised the resilience of the Ukrainian people and says the free world has to keep helping with military aid.

"We will not stop providing it until victory is achieved," he said.

Pence was introduced by Misha Simanovskyy, a global policy graduate student at UT Austin. He came to the U.S. in 2017. He moved to another city in Ukraine after the Russian occupation of his home region Donbas in 2014.

"Ukraine right now is at the forefront of defending democracy which is what United States stands for. That's why I came to this country," Simanovskyy said. "I can't believe it's been a year. It feels like it was just this afternoon that it happened."

He says when the war first broke out, "the first message that I sent to everybody I knew in Ukraine, they were still waking up from drone strikes and the news at 5 a.m., was a list of bomb shelters in their districts, because I didn't know where Russian troops would come in."

"There can be no room in the leadership of the Republican Party for apologists for Putin. There can only be room for champions of freedom," Pence said.

Pence claims the Biden administration didn't act fast enough, letting Russia dig deeper.

"Even after the initiation of hostilities, the Biden administration was repeatedly slow in providing Ukraine critical weapons systems like missiles and tanks only later to relent under public pressure," he said.

President Joe Biden visited Ukraine this week. The U.S. authorized another half billion dollars in military aid.

"That announcement includes artillery, ammunition for Himars and Howitzers, more javelins, anti-armor systems, air surveillance radars to help protect Ukrainian people from aerial bombardments," Biden said then.

"You will gain a great ally in Ukraine. Ukraine will be a granter of security for Europe, and the United States will be able to focus on other regions, and Ukraine will pay back. Not in monetary terms maybe but in other terms," Simanovskyy said. "I understand all the issues that people might think there are with providing Ukraine with aid, but believe me, it's worth it, and we use it quite effectively."

Biden also announced sanctions. 

Pence also said sanctions need to continue with increased speed.

"I believe if Russia is not stopped in Ukraine the day will come when NATO allies are directly threatened. At that moment, America will have no choice but to send our own," he said.

Pence says Americans can't let issues at home like inflation, border security, and crime undermine the will to be the leader of the free world.

The group Nonviolent Austin also held a rally in support of Ukraine on the one-year anniversary of the Russian invasion.

Outside the State Capitol, the group rallied against violence, expressed solidarity with Ukraine, and encouraged peace-making. Organizers say getting Ukraine to the negotiating table through humanitarian aid is the best solution.

"I wouldn't ever say to anybody especially in the situation of the people in Ukraine that they shouldn't defend themselves. As far as what we do to aid that, the more non-military aid we can give, the better as far as I'm concerned," Jim Crosby, founder of Nonviolent Austin, said.