Former Zelensky Press Sec. Responds to Candace Owens: ‘Ukraine Also Doesn’t Want to Be Involved in This War’
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s former press secretary responded to Candace Owens’ criticism of American support for Ukraine on Newsmax TV Tuesday.
Iuliia Mendel is a journalist who served Zelensky until last summer. She told network host Eric Bolling that while a segment of the U.S. population might not want to be involved in a war with Russia, Ukraine doesn’t want to be involved in it either.
Owens falsely stated that “Ukraine wasn’t a thing until 1989” on her show for the Daily Wire last week. During a muted defense of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Owens said,
Ukraine wasn’t a thing until 1989. Ukraine was created by the Russians. It was, you know, they speak Russian. So, it’s absolutely ridiculous. And, again, this entire episode has been exposing to you how ignorant people are about the goals of Vladimir Putin. He has goals. The goal is not just to get rid of Ukrainians. That makes entirely no sense. It would not be helpful for him.
Media Matters highlighted Owens’ comments, and so she responded via a lengthy video on Twitter.
Owens explained she feels empathy for war-torn Ukraine, but that it is not America’s conflict.
Bolling played a portion of those comments for Mendel Tuesday, and asked her to react.
“Iuliia, there’s a sort of small group of conservative people here in America who say that we should not be getting involved in the war,” he said. “Let me play a soundbite of a fairly prominent female conservative who says stay out of it.”
Bolling then aired a portion of Owen’s retort to Media Matters, in which she said,
They want us engaged in this conflict. We have serious war hawks, and this is across party lines, Republicans and Democrats, who understand the profit margins when you are engaged in a war. And people like me don’t want to be engaged in a war. I don’t think we should be engaged in a war, and I don’t think that by watering down this conversation and trying to convince a bunch of Americans of stupid things, that it’s going to help any.
Bolling asked Mendel to respond to Owens and others who are critical of supporting Ukraine against Russia’s invasion.
“In fact, Ukraine also doesn’t want to be involved in this war,” Mendel said after watching Owens’ comments. “This is only the Russia–the Russian leadership and Russia who attacks the countries. We don’t want to be involved, but it doesn’t matter what we want. Russia just comes to the territory of different country, kills its people, taking the territory.”
Watch above, via Newsmax TV.
