George W. Bush condemns Russian invasion of Ukraine, calls for American unity Former President George W. Bush speaks during a 9/11 commemoration at the Flight 93 National Memorial in Shanksville, Pa., on September 11, 2021. (Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images/TNS)
Former President George W. Bush condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine as a historic disaster and called for Americans to stand united in the face of strongman Vladimir Putin’s aggression.
“Russia’s attack on Ukraine constitutes the gravest security crisis on the European continent since World War II,” Bush said in a statement on Thursday issued from his home in Dallas.
Bush said he backs the international effort to push back against Russia’s “unprovoked and unjustified invasion of Ukraine.”
He also called for all Americans to stand firm as the West defended Ukraine.
“The American government and people must stand united with the Ukrainian government and the Ukrainian people as they seek their freedom and right to choose their own future,” Bush said.
Bush took dead aim at Putin, calling him a bully who must be stopped.
“We cannot tolerate the authoritarian bullying and danger that Putin poses,” Bush said.
The statement amounted to an effort to unite as broad a swath of the American political world behind the effort to confront Russia.
Establishment Republican leaders have responded to the crisis with President Biden’s efforts to back Ukraine and confront Russia.
But former President Donald Trump, the party’s de facto leader, has praised Putin as a “genius” and repeated his euphemistic description of the Russian invading force as “peacekeepers.”
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