KORCZOWA, Poland — Former Vice President Mike Pence and his wife, Karen, visited the Ukraine border Thursday to meet with families who fled to escape Russia's violent invasion of their country.
Pence shared photos of his visit that showed a camp filled with women and children who were seeking refuge.
Those who were shown are among more than 2 million refugees, half of which are children, who have fled Ukraine, according to the United Nations Refugee Agency. The agency said this is the fastest-growing refugee crisis in Europe since World War II — and the number of refugees continues to grow.
The agency has predicted that as many as 4 million people could eventually leave Ukraine, and even that projection could be revised upward.
Pence said nearly 400,000 have already gone through the Korczowa-Krakovets border crossing between Ukraine and Poland.
"The impact of the Russian invasion on these families is heartbreaking and the need for support is great," Pence said in a tweet.
He encouraged everyone to pray for Ukraine and contribute to relief organizations like Samaritan's Purse, which is a Christian organization that said it has disaster response specialists on the ground in Poland, Romania and Moldova.
The visit comes after Pence, who also previously served as the governor of Indiana, gave a speech to Republicans last week where he took on those in his party who have failed to forcefully condemn Russian President Vladimir Putin for his unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.
“Where would Russian tanks be today if NATO had not expanded the borders of freedom? There is no room in this party for apologists for Putin,” Pence said, according to excerpts from the speech, which was closed to reporters. “There is only room for champions of freedom.”