A sharp exchange broke out between Washington and Kiev, when Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-IN) publicly aired some realities of Ukraine’s situation and criticized Zelenskyy. In the Daily Telegraph, she said: “I just don’t see how they can be positioned to demand to keep the land. If they [Ukraine] would be winning the war, that will be very different…. Ukraine is not in the position to retake its territories, nor could they agree to give them up permanently.” She added: “Only a temporary solution with the help of the United States can be achieved, which will give each side some time to regroup. The end result of that war will have to be decided later and not just on a battlefield.”
Despite the fact Spartz was born and raised in Ukraine and has been a strong proponent of the arming of Ukraine, the April 7 Telegraph then mischaracterized her position. That included a deliberately provocative headline, “Zelenskyy Must Cede Land to Russia,” and the invention of a quote from her that she didn’t actually say: “I’m the only Ukrainian-born member of Congress—here’s why we must give land to Russia.”
Both London and Kiev have been sensitive recently over Ukrainian politicians positioning themselves for a post-Zelenskyy country and a semi-realistic concern over Russia’s capacity for an imminent large-scale offensive. Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry spokesman lashed out at Spartz for being out of touch with Ukraine. “Unlike Victoria, all of our land has always been and will always remain Ukrainian.”
This triggered an echo of the Trump-Zelenskyy White House brawl. Spartz accused Zelenskyy of “making money on the blood of the Ukrainian people” and attacked the “cowards in Zelenskyy mafia wiping out [Ukrainian] patriots” on the battlefield. Spartz’s office stated that “the U.K. Telegraph wrote an article with a headline intentionally misrepresenting Congresswoman Spartz’s position on Ukraine. This headline was ‘conveniently’ used by the Zelenskyy propaganda machine to smear her and President Trump and continue blaming the United States for Zelenskyy’s loss and betrayal of his country.
“It’s not surprising that the U.K. media is as dishonest as the U.S. mainstream media, so let me set the record straight. I spent an enormous amount of energy trying to help the Ukrainian military to win their brutal fight against Russia. Unfortunately, if you have morons and crooks like Zelenskyy and his puppet parliament running your country, it’s a lost cause. Putin might be evil, but he is not a moron. The current reality on the ground is that Ukraine is not in the position to retake its territories, nor could they agree to give them up permanently. Therefore, only a temporary solution with the help of the United States can be achieved, which will give each side some time to regroup. The end result of that war will have to be decided later and not just on a battlefield.”
