Marco Rubio says to ‘support’ Ukraine ‘as long as they are willing to fight’

Sen. Marco Rubio addressed the war in Ukraine again Tuesday, this time on MSNBC just minutes after that country’s leader announced a productive conversation with the American President.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy tweeted about a back-and-forth Tuesday with President Joe Biden.

“Just had a conversation with @POTUS. The American leadership on anti-Russian sanctions and defense assistance to Ukraine was discussed. We must stop the aggressor as soon as possible. Thank you for your support!”

Asked about what assistance the United States should provide, Rubio urged a continued relationship with a “real, legitimate Ukrainian state,” saying America should “support them” as long as the battle takes.

“I don’t know why we won’t openly say that we will support them as long as they are willing to fight, even if it’s only an insurgency,” Rubio said on “Andrea Mitchell Reports.”

That support can’t amount to an “armed engagement” between the U.S. and Russia, however, as “that would be World War III.” Instead, the U.S. should continue to “supply and equip” Ukraine, Rubio added.

The Senator also focused on the emergent “refugee crisis” with a flood of displaced Ukrainians being processed at the Polish border.

“It’s largely women, the elderly, young children, whose fathers and husbands are still in Ukraine,” Rubio said of those refugees currently waiting out the uncertainty in a makeshift “tent city.”

“They may make it back,” Rubio said. “They may not. Who knows when they’ll be reunited?”

He offered praise for economic sanctions that have helped to destabilize the Russian currency.

“I think what’s happened over the last week is really unprecedented,” Rubio said. “The Russian economy is headed toward collapse. The ruble most certainly is, and I don’t think that’s anything that anybody, including (Vladimir) Putin, anticipated. I think he thought he’d get hit hard, but not this hard.”

Rubio also made some points familiar to those who have tracked his comments.

“Putin can’t win,” Rubio said, noting that even if the Russian military prevails in a formal sense, there will still be an “insurgency.”

“He’ll never be able to install some puppet traitor government that he can just get up and leave and leave them behind because the Ukrainians will overthrow him and kill those people,” Rubio said.

Just had a conversation with @POTUS. The American leadership on anti-Russian sanctions and defense assistance to Ukraine was discussed. We must stop the aggressor as soon as possible. Thank you for your support!

— Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) March 1, 2022