The claim: Vice President Kamala Harris argued during Tuesday's debate that if former President Donald Trump had served as commander in chief for the past four years, Russian President Vladimir Putin “would be sitting in Kiev and looking out at the rest of Europe.”
Verdict: False. Russia under Putin invaded neighboring countries under the administrations of George Bush, Barack Obama and Joe Biden, but not under the Trump administration.
“If Donald Trump were president, Putin would be sitting in Kiev by now, understanding what that means, because Putin's plan is not just about Ukraine,” Harris argued.
Russia invaded Georgia under President George Bush, occupied Crimea under the Obama administration, and launched an invasion of Ukraine under the Biden-Harris administration, but under the Trump administration, Russia did not invade any of its neighbors.
Trump has repeatedly said that if he were president, the war would never have started, and Hungarian President Viktor Orban has said that Trump is the only American or European leader who can end it.
Ms Harris went on to argue that if Mr Trump became president, Putin would not just be “sitting in Kiev” but would also be “looking at other countries in Europe, especially Poland”.
Putin claimed earlier this year to Tucker Carlson that he would only attack Poland if Poland attacked Russia.
“Can you imagine a scenario where Russian troops are sent to Poland?” Carlson asked.
“Only if Poland attacks Russia,” Putin laughed. “Why? Because we are not interested in Poland, or Latvia, or anywhere else. Why would we do that?”
In his rebuttal, Trump stressed that Russia has nuclear weapons and warned against escalating war.
“Nobody thinks about that. And at the end of the day, maybe he uses it and maybe it wasn't so threatening. But he has it. It's something we don't want to talk about,” Trump said.
