Pence: US will have to fight Russia if Ukraine defeated

If Ukraine is defeated in the war, the U.S. will have to send troops to fight Russia's further aggression, former Vice President Mike Pence said on the Hugh Hewitt Show on July 5.

"I have no doubt that if (Russian dictator) Vladimir Putin overran Ukraine, it would not be too long... before the Russian military crossed a border where we would have to send our fighting men and women to fight against them," the Republican presidential candidate said.

Pence called for speaking the truth about Russian war crimes, referencing his June 29 visit to Kyiv's suburbs Bucha and Irpin where massacres against civilians took place.

"What's going on in Ukraine is not just warfare. It's evil," he said.

Pence added that during his visit, he went by a relief organization that helps Ukrainian children abducted by Russia. He commended their work despite the fact that "Russians are stonewalling everything."

The Ukrainian national database suggests that about 19,500 Ukrainian children have been abducted from the occupied territories and sent to other Russian-controlled areas or Russia since last February.

The former vice president belongs to the wing of the Republican party that supports further aid for Ukraine and has criticized his former boss Donald Trump for praising Putin.