DeSantis praises Ukrainian ‘moxie’ against Russia, hits Biden’s ‘lack of leadership’

Gov. Ron DeSantis spoke out Monday on the Russian invasion of Ukraine, praising Ukrainian resistance but blaming the episode on fecklessness by President Joe Biden.

In his first remarks about the matter since the Russians invaded on Thursday, the governor praised the fight the Ukrainians have mounted thus far.

“I was heartened to see them having some moxie to fight back,” he said.

“Let me tell you: If you go into another country with an armed population that is hell-bent on resisting you, I mean, it’s going to be death by a thousand cuts for the Russian army,” DeSantis continued.

“I think the Ukrainians have done a good job so far of standing up to this. And the question is, how much does he [Vladimir Putin] want to throw his country kind of down the toilet, because it’s not going to get any better, and I think he’s backed himself into a corner here with his miscalculations.”

DeSantis blamed Biden’s messy withdrawal from Afghanistan for displaying “the lack of leadership that Joe Biden is bringing to the table.”

“Russia was watching that. China was watching that. Iran was watching that. That whetted the appetite of these dictators,” he said.

“This is a guy who’s basically an authoritarian gas station attendant, OK, with some legacy nuclear weapons from the old Soviet Union. Their whole society is hollowed out, except for that energy. And so, if you want to him, hit him at the gas pump, him with energy,” the governor said.

Sounding like someone who is running for president, DeSantis is considered a contender in 2024.