WASHINGTON, D.C. — One day after President Joe Biden made a surprise visit to Ukraine to meet with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, freshman Ohio Rep. Max Miller and four other House Republicans did the same thing.

“We wanted to make sure that the American-taxpayer money is being spent well. And this is where we need more transparency from the Biden administration,” Miller told Spectrum News in an interview after the trip.

They traveled from Poland to Ukraine and back by train. The lawmakers met with Zelenskyy and visited Bucha, a city in northern Ukraine where Russian soldiers allegedly committed atrocities against civilians.

“I saw a mass grave,” Miller said. “90% of that mass grave... was full of women and children at an Orthodox church. That is what the Russian people are doing.”

The trip was significant for Miller, a 34-year-old former Marine Corps reservist who entered Congress in January after working as an aide to then-President Donald Trump. He represents Ohio’s 7th Congressional District.

While Trump and his allies have campaigned on cutting off support for Ukraine, Miller, who has endorsed Trump’s reelection bid, thinks the U.S. should continue providing military weaponry. He does, though, want audits done to determine how the more than $100 billion in U.S. aid already appropriated by Congress has been spent; and he does not think additional funding is needed.

“The American taxpayer should not be footing the bill for the Ukrainian war,” Miller told Spectrum News. “However, I do believe that we can continue to help them militarily wise, in being more effective and kinetic on the battlefield, so that they can win this war on their own without American boots on the ground.”

Miller’s district is in northeast Ohio and includes the state’s largest Ukrainian population, centered in the city of Parma. It’s something that Miller said has influenced how he thinks the U.S. should respond to the war.

While former Ohio Sen. Rob Portman was a lead Republican on Capitol Hill calling for U.S. support of Ukraine, his successor, Sen. JD Vance, is a leading skeptic who has aligned himself with Trump on the matter. Miller said he falls right in the middle.

After posting about his secret trip to Ukraine on his official Facebook page, Miller received a comment from a constituent who criticized him for not focusing on inflation back home.

“So disappointed to have voted for you,” the person wrote.

Miller said it’s an example of the balance he must strike, but he insists his trip was an opportunity to pursue more transparency from the Biden administration while also supporting Ukraine’s ability to defend itself.

“If more Republicans and more Americans knew that their taxpayer dollars were being sent, and they could see something visual and say, ‘You know what? It is going to help an unjust war. It is going to help [stop] war crimes and a barbarian like President Putin,’” Miller said. “But that’s something that we don’t see.”