"Recklessly providing aid to Putin": US Congress condemns narratives undermining positions of Ukrainian officials

The co-chair of the Congressional Ukraine Caucus and a member of the Democratic Party, Marcy Kaptur, declared her support for President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his team, and also condemned the spread of narratives aimed at "undermining Ukrainian officials during the war," reads the official statement of the congresswoman released on July 9.

Kaptur, who heads the Ukraine Caucus in the US Congress, emphasized that the legislative body, with a majority of members from both parties, initiated support for Ukraine in its heroic efforts to protect the homeland and end the Russian war. However, she said that "some members [of Congress] may seek to sow division and inflame tensions."

"The level and scope of the United States’ cooperation with President Zelenskyy’s office gives no reason to doubt the loyalty of any official. Those who are spreading wild narratives aimed at undermining Ukrainian officials during the war are recklessly providing aid to Putin and his propagandists," Kaptur said in a statement.

She assured that Washington will continue to work hand in hand with Zelenskyy and his office to ensure that this war ends.

The Ukrainian Congress Committee of America made a similar statement, reports European Pravda. The organization condemned attempts to undermine or break trust between the United States and Ukraine.

The UCCA believes that narratives about a weakened, divided Ukrainian state, spread by Russian disinformation, are aimed at undermining public support for the Zelenskyy administration and harming important strategic relations between Kyiv and Washington.

The Office of the President of Ukraine also stated on July 10 that they had not received any letters or appeals from Victoria Spartz, according to the presidential spokesman Sergii Nykyforov in a comment for UA:PBC.

Background

The first Ukrainian woman in the House of Representatives of the US Congress, Victoria Spartz, submitted a letter to US President Joe Biden regarding the alleged ties of the head of the Office of the President Andriy Yermak to the Kremlin.

In addition, the congresswoman drew attention to the fact that Yermak appointed Oleg Tatarov as his deputy for law enforcement to fight corruption, although he "had been delaying the appointment of an independent anti-corruption prosecutor for over a year, rendering the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office and the National Anti-Corruption Bureau dysfunctional."

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine denied these accusations and called them  "an undisguised attempt to return to American politics the classic narratives of Russian propaganda about the supposed ties of the leadership of Ukraine with Russia." The representatives of the Ukrainian authorities called on Spartz to "do something useful for the defense of Ukraine."

After that, Spartz called on the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to consider her statement seriously, and not to "launch ad hominem attacks", and listed her claims against Yermak. The latter himself has not yet publicly responded to Spartz's accusations.