President Joe Biden’s campaign is reportedly set to launch a 60-second ad highlighting his efforts in supporting Ukraine this week, airing the clip in battleground states.
The “War Zone” ad will be played during the weekend’s primetime broadcast of “60 Minutes” and will be broadcast in the television markets of Phoenix, Atlanta, Detroit, Las Vegas, Raleigh, Philadelphia and Milwaukee, NBC reported Thursday.
The video features footage of the president traveling to Kyiv, Ukraine, during his surprise trip to the war-torn country in February. Biden made the unannounced trip to Ukraine to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy ahead of the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion, traveling from Poland into the Ukrainian capital by night train.
“It was the first time in modern history that an American president went into a war zone not controlled by the United States,” the narrator begins. “He entered Ukraine under the cover of night, and in the morning, Joe Biden walked shoulder to shoulder with our allies in the war-torn streets.” (RELATED: US Notified Russia Of Biden’s Ukraine Visit Hours Before Trip)
“Standing up for Democracy in a place where a tyrant is waging war to take it away,” the narrator continues, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin. “In the middle of a war zone, Joe Biden showed the world what America is made of. That’s the quiet strength of a true leader who doesn’t back down to a dictator.”
The Biden administration has pledged to support Ukraine for as “long as it takes” and has said any negotiations with Russia must be spearheaded by Zelenskyy.
Several presidential candidates, including Democratic challenger Robert F. Kennedy Jr., former President Donald Trump and Republican entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, have said they would attempt to negotiate a peace deal, while Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has said a cease-fire would be “in everybody’s interest.”
The campaign ad is meant to highlight the Biden’s foreign policy and paint his rivals as soft on Putin, Biden campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez said in a statement, per NBC.
“The MAGA Republicans running for president have sided with dictators over democracy,” while Biden “has shown time and again that America under his leadership will always be a beacon of democracy,” she said. “As President Biden heads to the G20, this ad shows the American people how a true president stands up to bullies like Vladimir Putin, instead of coddling them.”