Victoria Spartz, the only Ukrainian-born lawmaker in the US Congress, fired back at another prominent Republican Marcy Kaptur over her claims Spart’s criticims of Zelensky’s top aide Andriy Yermak earlier ties to Russia comes as ‘reckless’ aid to Moscow amid its ongoing invasion in Ukraine.
In her scathing response on Twitter, Spartz who recently visited the war zone in Ukraine, wrote:
‘Before Rep.Marcy Kaptur makes her tought claims, she should go to Ukraine and see what’s happening on the ground- at least once. Marcy, listening to bureaucrats in the pocket of Andriy Yermak serves no one but the Kremlin.’
The exchange of words came after Spartz released a letter to the US president on July 8, asking asking Biden to brief Congress about Andriy Yermak’s ‘alleged dealings in connection with Russia.’
As an avid supporter of Ukraine, Sparts called for ‘rigor and accountability to the American people’ in the face of the aggression, urging ‘speed’ of security assistance from Washington and so ‘urgently needed’ by Kyiv.
Among the allegations that clearly rattled many in Kyiv and Washington, the congresswoman cited:
- Leaking information to Belarus and ultimately to Russia on Ukraine’s operation to capture the “Wagner Group”, which led to its failure;
- Mismanaging failed peace negotiations with Russia before the war;
- Assuring Ukrainian leadership that no attack by Russia was going to happen this February, contrary to western intelligence, to prevent Ukraine from properly preparing for the war;
- Sabotaging Kherson and giving it to the Russians to set up the “Azov” battalion tragedy;
- Delaying purchases of urgent military equipment through the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense and demanding unreasonable or even illegal terms; and
- Purposely delaying through Deputy Oleg Tatarov the appointment of an independent anti-corruption prosecutor.
The criticism got a knee-jerk reaction from Ukraine’s foreign ministry. ‘We advise Ms. Spartz to stop trying to earn extra political capital on baseless speculation around the topic of war in our country and the grief of Ukrainians,’ Oleg Nikolenko, the spokesperson for Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry, said in a statement on Facebook. ‘Especially cynical are manipulations about Ukraine and its leadership from congresswomen of Ukrainian origin.’