CNN —
If Vladimir Putin was watching the Republican presidential debate on Wednesday night, he would have found one more reason to dig in for a long war of attrition in Ukraine.
Fierce rhetorical clashes over the conflict laid bare a widening split in the GOP between Donald Trump’s “America First” creed and the increasingly eclipsed hawkish internationalism once epitomized by President Ronald Reagan.
The showdown could have deep implications for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s effort to eject Russian forces from all of Ukrainian soil as it will put the multi-billion dollar American aid pipeline on which he relies in serious doubt.
