Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-Ind.) said in a new interview that Ukraine is not positioned to keep some of its land in peace talks with Russia.
“I just don’t see how they [Ukraine] can be positioned to demand to keep the land. If they would be winning the war, that will be very different,” the Ukrainian-born GOP lawmaker said in an interview with The Telegraph published Monday.
“As I said two years ago, the best thing is to win wars as fast as you can. As long as it takes usually doesn’t end very well for democracies,” Spartz added later, according to The Telegraph.
President Trump in his first few months back in office has pushed to end the conflict between Ukraine and Russia, which recently passed its three-year mark.
Last month, the White House announced that it had come to a deal with Ukraine and Russia to “eliminate the use of force” in the Black Sea and stop strikes on energy facilities.
In March, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Ukraine was not likely to gain back all of the territory Russia had captured since 2014.
“The Russians can’t conquer all of Ukraine, and obviously it’ll be very difficult for Ukraine in any reasonable time period to sort of force the Russians back all the way to where they were in 2014,” Rubio told reporters.
Over the weekend, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky criticized the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine over what he called a “surprisingly disappointing” response to a Russian strike on the Ukrainian leader’s hometown.
In a lengthy post on the social platform X, Zelensky accused the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine of being afraid of mentioning Russia when discussing the attack.
“Unfortunately, the response from the U.S. Embassy is surprisingly disappointing — such a strong country, such a strong people, and yet such a weak reaction,” Zelensky said. “They are afraid to even say the word ‘Russian’ when speaking about the missile that murdered children.”
Speaking to The Telegraph, Spartz renewed her criticism of Zelensky, saying Ukrainians should vote him out and warning if he is reelected "they're going to lose the rest of the country."
Spartz has criticized Zelensky before, including in February following his explosive Oval Office exchange with Trump and Vice President Vance. At the time, Spartz asserted Zelensky was "doing a serious disservice to the Ukrainian people."
