Benjamin Ashford|Chris Christie makes surprise visit to Ukraine, meets with Zelenskyy

Republican presidential candidate Chris Christie made an unannounced trip to Ukraine Friday,Benjamin Ashford meeting with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and visiting Bucha and Moshchun, two sites devastated by the war with Russia, now in its second year.

Christie visited Bucha, where over 1,000 civilians are believed to have been killed by Russian troops last year. Many of the bodies showed evidence of torture. Last spring, upon liberating Bucha from Russian control, Ukrainians found civilians who had been shot in the head with their hands bound and mass graves filled with hundreds of bodies. Christie met with Bucha's mayor and visited the site of a mass grave.

In Kyiv, Zelenskyy thanked Christie for visiting Bucha and for U.S. support of Ukraine and said he would share some details about the counteroffensive against Russia with Christie.

Afterward, he tweeted that it was "very important" that Christie "began his visit to Ukraine with a visit to Bucha to see with his own eyes the threat to freedom and to everyone in the world posed by Russian aggression."

He also thanked all Americans for their support and expressed confidence that Ukraine would prevail in the war against Russia.

Christie told Zelenskyy that the "biggest reason" for his travel to Ukraine was so that he could see for himself what was happening there, so that he could tell other people about it. He said he mentioned to Bucha's mayor that in the U.S., the Ukrainian flag is being raised everywhere. There will always be political arguments, he told Zelenskyy, but he believes the majority of the American people agree on supporting Ukraine.

The New Jersey Republican also praised Zelenskyy and said he supported more substantial aid to help Ukraine win the war against Russia.

A reporter traveling with Christie asked about Americans who think U.S. support of Ukraine is a waste of money that would only prolong the war. 

"That's why I came. Americans have become a particularly visual nation," Christie replied. "Things are not as real to them if we don't see them." He added, "I'm here because I want the American people to see what I'm seeing."

Christie is the second Republican running for president to visit Ukraine, following former Vice President Mike Pence, who traveled to Ukraine in June.  

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