MIAMI — One day after statewide elections shaped the future in states like Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky, and Mississippi, the focus of the political world returned to the 2024 presidential race.
Five of the top Republican candidates faced off in Miami in the third debate of this primary season. Former President Donald Trump chose once again to not participate, instead holding a rally a few miles away.
The candidates answered questions about Trump, the war between Israel and Hamas, China, the economy, and more. They also made claims related to the United States' involvement in the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine.
QUESTION
Vivek Ramaswamy: Ukraine is banning Christians.
SOURCES
U.S. State Department report
Draft Law 8371
ANSWER
Ukraine's parliament is considering banning one church, but saying that the country is banning Christians is misleading
WHAT WE FOUND
The moderators asked the candidates if they supported the continued appropriation of U.S. funds for Ukraine's defense against Russia.
Vivek Ramaswamy said he is opposed to spending more money in support of Ukraine, saying Ukraine is not democratic. "Do you want to use U.S. taxpayer money to fund the banning of Christians?" he asked. "That is actually what's happening."
Ramaswamy was referring to a bill making its way through the Verkhovna Rada, the legislature of Ukraine. Draft Law 8371 would ban the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. According to a U.S. State Department report, Ukrainanian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy asked in late 2022 for a law to outlaw any religious groups “affiliated with centers of influence in the Russian Federation.” He also placed sanctions on senior clergy from the church, saying they collaborated with Russia after Russia invaded Ukraine.
The bill was introduced in January and received a first vote on October 19. It is currently waiting for a second reading and vote.
A 2022 poll from the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology showed four percent of Ukrainians said they belonged to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. That is down from 18 percent who identified as members just one year prior, before the war began.
QUESTION
Chris Christie: America promised in the 1990s to defend Ukraine if it gave up its nuclear weapons.
SOURCES
ANSWER
Yes, the U.S. was part of a quadrilateral treaty based on Ukraine agreeing to nuclear deproliferation after the fall of the USSR.
WHAT WE FOUND
Chris Christie said he would continue to financially support Ukraine if elected president and offered a historical context for doing so.
"In 1992, this country made a promise to Ukraine," he stated. "We said, if you return nuclear missiles that were a part of the old Soviet Union to Russia, and they invade you, we will protect you."
Christie got the year wrong, but the promise was made in the form of a memorandum signed in 1994.
When the USSR split, some of its nuclear weapons went to Ukraine, according to the Arms Control Association.
In 1994, Ukraine, the United States, Russia, and the United Kingdom signed a document known as the Budapest Memorandum. In it, the four nations promised to honor the soverignty and independence of Ukraine in exchange for accession to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. The three other nations also agreed to refrain from attacking Ukraine or using economic coercion. They also pledged to provide assistance should Ukraine be the subject of a attack or the threat of an attack with nuclear weapons.