 Another Republican presidential candidate in U.S. calls on Washington to end its support for Ukraine. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who is one of the possible U.S. Republican presidential candidates, has said that protecting Ukraine from the Russian invasion is not a vital U.S. interest. While the U.S. has many vital national interests, securing our borders, addressing the crisis of readiness within our military, achieving energy security and independence, and checking the economic, cultural and military power of the Chinese Communist Party, becoming further entangled in a territorial dispute between Ukraine and Russia is not one of them. DeSantis said in response to a questionnaire about the war, Fox News reporters posed to several declared and potential Republican presidential candidates. The Republican governor, who has yet to officially enter the GOP primary, though he is widely expected to, echoed remarks House Speaker Kevin McCarthy made last year, criticising the Biden administration for what he described as writing a blank check to Ukraine. Though DeSantis acknowledged that peace should be the objective, he warned that sending in troops or advanced weapons like F-16 fighter jets and long-range missiles would risk explicitly drawing the United States into the conflict and drawing us closer to a hot war between the world's two largest nuclear powers. DeSantis' remarks are broadly in line with those of former President Donald Trump, who said that protecting Ukraine from Russia is not a vital U.S. interest, but it is vital for Europe. In his statement, DeSantis stressed the priority of U.S. defense, especially along the southern border. We cannot prioritize intervention in an escalating foreign war over the defense of our own homeland, especially as tens of thousands of Americans are dying every year from narcotics smuggled across our open border and our weapons arsenals critical for our own security are rapidly being depleted, he said.