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‘Hold On! We Don’t Want World War III’: ‘The View’ Co-Hosts Clash Over What To Do About Russia

'The View' cohosts debate the war in Ukraine [Twitter Screenshot Nicholas Fondocaro]

[Screenshot/The View/Nicholas Fondocaro/Twitter]

Brianna Lyman News and Commentary Writer
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“The View” co-hosts clashed Monday while discussing what to do about Russia, with Joy Behar warning about getting involved in a world war with Russia.

“I want somebody to tell me, what is [Biden] supposed to do? I want somebody to come from the other side and say, ‘This is what we can do, here is how we can fight this,'” Whoopi Goldberg said.

“It seems to me like we’ve strengthened our economic sanctions, then people were saying, ‘Okay, no oil,'” Sunny Hostin said. “We’ve done that. The final step in my view, and we’ve talked about it on this show, is the no fly zone. You have someone like Putin that is saying, ‘If you shoot my planes down during my war, I will consider that an act of war.’ We’re already in a war with him—”

“No, we’re not in a war with him,” Goldberg chimed in. “No, not yet.”

Behar also jumped into the debate. (RELATED: ‘You Keep Attacking Me’: Ana Navarro And Stephanie Grisham Share Heated Exchange Over Working For The Trump Admin)

“Hold on, we don’t want World War III in this world. This is a country that has nuclear weapons, we’ve been under this gun of nuclear weapons since I was a child,” Behar said. “You cannot screw around with a crazy person who has nukes. Sorry.”

“He has to be given an off-ramp,” guest co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin said.

Behar then suggested China or another nation has to get involved before Griffin explained her “off-ramp” comment.

“He needs some kind of an off-ramp. Putin is a deeply reckless man, he’s in a corner. His army is depleted militarily, almost 90% of it is in Ukraine. This could be stopped quickly, diplomatically,” Griffin said.

CNN reported in the beginning of March that a U.S. official said Russian President Vladimir Putin had deployed approximately 90% of its pre-staged forces into Ukraine. Pre-staged forces are the military personnel Putin had amassed outside of the Ukrainian border prior to the invasion, according to Reuters.

“We need to cut him off from every international market, which the U.S. has done and the Europeans have done,” she continued, noting other nations like Switzerland, China and India should do the same to increase pressure. “Make him so isolated that he can’t even sustain this mission.”

“How many people can just die mercilessly at his hands before we, as the greatest world power, say we are willing to do something to save those lives?” she added.

“Are you willing to get into a nuclear war?” Behar shot back. “Are you?”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called for NATO to impose a no-fly zone over Ukraine, with NATO leaders, including the U.S., rejecting the request out of fear it could drag the alliance into the conflict with Russia, NBC News reported.