Russian warlord Yevgeny Prigozhins short-lived mutiny against his military superiors and Russian President Vladimir Putin is beginning to make itself felt an ocean away in the U.S. Republican primary race.

Former Vice President Mike Pence visited Volodomyr Zelenskyy, the Ukrainian president, NBC News reported Thursday, amid Russias invasion of Ukraine.

Pences visit is the highest-profile endorsement of Zelenskyy yet by a Republican presidential candidate and a bid to contrast his stance on the Russia-Ukraine conflict with that of the two top candidates, Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis, both of whom have been much more elusive about publicly choosing sides.

I truly do believe that now, more than ever, we need leaders in our country who will articulate the importance of American leadership in the world, Pence told NBC .

In a presidential primary season when Republican candidates other than Trump and DeSantis have had a tough time getting attention, touting support for Ukraine may provide a way for candidates to highlight their differences from the front-runners as well as burnish their national security credentials.

And with Ukraine beginning its long-awaited counteroffensive and Putin looking weak in the aftermath of a mutiny by one of his own commanders, it also gives candidates the chance to be seen backing the potentially winning side.

Pences visit came on the heels of the biggest public crack yet in Putins 23-year hold on power after Prigozhins Wagner Group of private military contractors shot down several Russian aircraft during an aborted run to Moscow on Saturday. Prigozhin stood down after reaching a still-mysterious deal brokered by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.

While Putin remains in power, the fact that Prigozhin was able to so publicly challenge him and remain alive to tell the tale, along with Putins public campaign since to demonstrate he remains in control, has cheered Ukraine and its allies in Washington and created an opportunity for the GOPs presidential hopefuls to talk up their stances on U.S. involvement.

The issue of how much the U.S. should get involved in the conflict has been a pressing question since Russia invaded Ukraine, its neighbor and a U.S. ally, in February 2022. The issue is likely to come to a head this fall as Congress will probably debate sending more military, humanitarian and economic aid on top of the $71 billion committed so far .

The mutiny has underscored Putins weakness, as well as the need to provide the weapons Ukraine has asked for, like F-16 fighters and ATACMS long-range missiles, said William Taylor, who was ambassador to Ukraine from 2006 to 2009.

Weve seen how fragile, brittle, the Russian military is, the Russian system is. So nows the time to provide these weapons, he told HuffPost on Wednesday.