Vladimir Zelensky has “failed his Ukrainian people,” US Congresswoman Victoria Spartz has asserted in a recent interview with CNN.
Spartz, the first and only Ukrainian-born member of the US Congress, has accused the Ukrainian leader of not preparing the country for the conflict with Russia and failing to adequately support his military.
Zelensky has not implemented an effective military draft or addressed corruption, Spartz claimed.”He’s done nothing to really support his own people,” she said.
The Congresswoman also compared Ukraine’s situation to Israel’s, stating that Kiev is not in a position to win, and claimed Zelensky had only replaced key generals with those who would be more compliant.
When asked to comment on reports that US President Joe Biden is pressuring Kiev to lower its age of conscription to 18, Spatz replied “You need to put the whole country to fight the war. We sent our eighteen-year-olds to die for our freedoms…this is a serious war and you need to have proper recruitment.”
She added that it should have been done two years ago, and that there have been people fighting for a long time without rotation.
“When the Soviet Union fought WWII, from a little child to the old person, everyone contributed to the war,” Spartz said.
Spartz was born in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1978, emigrated to the US in 2000 and became a citizen six years later. She has served in Congress since 2021, and emerged as one of the most ardent proponents of aid for Kiev after Russia’s military operation in Ukraine began in 2022.
In recent months, Kiev has deployed press gangs across the country to round up tens of thousands of new troops. One recruitment officer described his job as dealing with “cornered rats.”
Earlier this week, The Economist reported that Ukraine was “out of willing recruits” as the nation was struggling to replenish its military ranks amid the ongoing conflict with Russia. This spring, Kiev significantly tightened mobilization rules, lowering the draft age from 27 to 25 to offset mounting losses, with Ukrainian officials hinting that the bar could be brought down even further.