Written by by ROBERT MCGREEVY at dailycaller.com
Republican Indiana Rep. Victoria Spartz blasted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for weak leadership Wednesday in exclusive comments to the Daily Caller.
“He is good at playing a hero and making grandiose statements on TV but not as heroic when it comes to fighting a real fight against Putin,” Spartz, who was born and raised in Ukraine, told the Daily Caller.
“[He] did not get [the] country ready before the war; did not deal with corruption and Russian assets in his government, and when he pretends to do it it’s just for the show – no one gets punished,” she stated.
“[He] did not put [the] country in the military mode when major war advanced in 2022; made a lot of military decisions based on theater presentations not proper strategy; is afraid of free media and criticism, so is terrorizing and smearing anyone who criticizes him.”
Zelenskyy consolidated Ukraine’s cable news outlets, dissolved opposition parties and cracked down on the country’s Ukrainian Orthodox Church, the Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP), in 2022.
Spartz also chided Ukraine’s corruption and alleged that the the country’s notoriously dubious businesses and government officials frequently influence Zelenskyy.
“[He] panics easily and is controlled by crooks and shady individuals around him; and is intimidated by the military or any strong individuals, unfortunately seeing many heroic people as political opponents and trying to destroy them,” Spartz told the Daily Caller.
Zelenskyy has ejected top military officials from his security services and other branches of his military for what he says amounts to treason.
“It does not help when [the] Ukrainian government mishandles their own money not going to the war efforts, and [is] asking us then to help them to finance their internal budgets. You can read a lot of articles about it but [I’m] not sure if anyone was ever punished with real consequences – not just replacing old friends with new friends to line their pockets,” she told the Daily Caller.
Spartz, who voted against House Speaker Mike Johnson’s $60.8 billion amendment for Ukraine aid in April, previously expressed her disappointment at the denigration she received after criticizing Zelenskyy.