Republican Congresswoman Victoria Spartz sparked outrage among Ukrainians after suggesting they “must accept” ceding territory to Russia and elect a new president instead of Volodymyr Zelenskyy if “they don’t wish to lose their entire country,” according to The Telegraph’s reporting.
Her comments in a Telegraph interview prompted fierce reactions from Ukrainian officials, activists, and even her former teachers, who called Spartz a “traitor” and a “turncoat.”
Ukrainian-born congresswoman tells Ukraine it cannot “demand to keep the land”
Born in Ukraine but now representing Indiana in Congress, Spartz told The Telegraph that Ukraine cannot “demand to keep the land” in its war 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,” Spartz stated.
Spartz endorsed Donald Trump’s decision to negotiate with Vladimir Putin while criticizing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
The congresswoman has shifted from early support for Ukraine when the full-scale invasion began to increasingly vocal criticism of its leadership.
In 2022, she was among the first US officials to label Russia’s actions as “war crimes” and the invasion a “genocide of the Ukrainian people.”
She visited Ukraine six times in April and May 2022, including frontline areas and her hometown, Nosivka, in Chernihiv Oblast, after its liberation from Russian occupation. Her 95-year-old grandmother’s home in Nosivka was damaged by Russian bombardment.
Together with US Senator Steve Daines, she became the first US official representative to visit Ukraine after the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion. They came with an unannounced visit to Bucha, a city in Kyiv Oblast known for Russian atrocities toward civilians during the occupation in 2022.
By the summer of 2022, her tone had changed. She began criticizing Zelenskyy, urging him to “stop playing politics and staging theater.”
In April 2024, she voted against a $61 billion aid package for Ukraine, citing corruption concerns and opposing “blank cheques.” This vote came just days after a missile strike on the city of Chernihiv, where she had lived and attended school.
After the public quarrel between the Ukrainian president and Trump in the Oval Office, Spartz accused Zelenskyy of doing a “disservice to the Ukrainian people” and “insulting the American president.”
In an interview with The Telegraph, she urged Ukrainians not to support Ukraine’s wartime leader in future elections, warning:
“They will have election, and then if they elect him, they’re going to lose the rest of the country,” Spartz said.
Throughout the interview, the congresswoman referred to Ukrainians as “they,” maintaining distance from her birth country.
Born in Ukraine in 1978, Spartz moved to the United States in 2000 after meeting her American husband. Despite her Ukrainian roots, she identifies primarily as an American citizen.
“My number one job as an American congresswoman is to protect interests, American interests,” she stated at a town hall meeting.
While criticizing both Biden and Zelenskyy, she remained skeptical of Putin:
“You can never trust Putin, the only way you can enforce peace with Putin is having the power to be able to win wars, period.”
“Spartz betrayed Ukraine”: Ukrainians react to her statements
Victoria Spartz faced fierce criticism from Ukrainians following her Telegraph interview suggesting territorial concessions to Russia.
Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Heorhii Tykhyi, issued a pointed reply:
“Unlike Victoria, all of our land has always been and will always remain Ukrainian.”
This prompted Spartz to fire back on X, suggesting that President Zelenskyy might be paying The Telegraph to create misleading headlines.
“I would not be surprised that Zelenskyy is paying Telegraph to fabricate false headlines to continue making money on the blood of the Ukrainian people. I am proud of my Ukrainian heritage of the real warriors – not cowards in Zelenskyy mafia wiping out patriots.”
Ukrainian soldier and poet Yara Chornohuz rejected Spartz’s claim to represent Ukrainian interests.
“She is not Ukrainian and doesn’t represent interests of our nation. To be born in Ukraine in 1980s and move to the US in 2000s or earlier as a student – does not mean that the one has any connection to our modern state or has a moral value to speak on behalf of Ukrainians,” Chornohuz wrote.
She accused Spartz of using her Ukrainian background opportunistically while actually functioning as “one more prorussian politician.”
Ukrainian activist Serhii Sternenko’s assessment was blunt:
“Spartz betrayed Ukraine. She betrayed America too.”
Perhaps most revealing are reactions from Spartz’s hometown of Nosivka in the Chernihiv Oblast, Suspilne Chernihiv reports. Teachers at Chernihiv’s Lyceum No. 15, where Spartz studied from 1993 to 1995, once proud of their graduate, now express disappointment.
History teacher Valentyna Rudenok now describes her former student as “a turncoat, a traitor who betrayed both Lyceum No. 15 and her Nosivka.”
Rudenok recalled that during her school years, Victoria “was a gray mouse and almost never smiled” despite being an excellent student who graduated high school with a gold medal, which is awarded in recognition of academic achievements.
The school reportedly reached out to Spartz for help in restoring their building after Russian bombing damage in 2022.
“We appealed to her and to others for some help. Those others who are in America really helped us. But somehow Victoria completely distanced herself,” Rudenok said.
Nataliia Khmelnytska, who works at the lyceum and lives near Spartz’s mother in Ukraine, expressed indignation regarding her recent statements.
“If she’s not going to support Ukraine… she has no right to demand that Ukraine give up its territories,” Khmelnytska stated. “She doesn’t even have the right to advise us who to vote for.”
Not all local reactions were negative. Volunteer Oleh Bibikov recalled meeting Spartz during her 2022 Chernihiv visits as positive, describing her then as “very passionate about helping the country.”
Regarding her recent statements, Bibikov speculated: “I think there’s something else that we don’t hear or see.”
Spartz calls Telegraph “dishonest media”
Victoria Spartz quickly contested The Telegraph’s portrayal of her comments, claiming the newspaper “intentionally misrepresented” her position on the Russo-Ukrainian war.
According to Spartz, The Telegraph initially used quotation marks around statements she never made. Her team reportedly engaged with the publication, after which the quotes were removed, though she claims a colon was retained to suggest the statement was verbatim.
“It’s not surprising that the UK media is as dishonest as the US mainstream media, so let me set the record straight,” she said in a statement posted on her website. “I spent an enormous amount of energy trying to help the Ukrainian military to win their brutal fight against Russia.”
Spartz clarified her position:
“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.”
The congresswoman claimed the newspaper’s portrayal was exploited by supporters of “Zelenskyy’s propaganda machine” to damage her and President Trump’s reputations.
What else is known about Spartz?
Victoria Spartz (her Ukrainian surname was Kulheyko) was born in 1978 in Nosivka before moving to Chernihiv, northern Ukraine. She emigrated to the United States in 2000 after meeting her American husband Jason. They settled in Indiana, where she worked in accounting and real estate before entering politics.
In November 2020, Spartz became the first Ukrainian-born woman in Congress. However, she is not the only one because Eugene Vindman, a Democrat and native of Kyiv was elected to the US House of Representatives in November 2024, representing Virginia’s 7th Congressional District.
In June 2024, Spartz faced an investigation over staff complaints about her “rage and toxicity.” She previously weathered a House ethics committee investigation regarding staff treatment, which was eventually dropped.
