(NewsNation) — NATO member states could and should be doing more in Ukraine, both for the sake of Ukraine citizens and for the security and global defense of the entire world, Ukrainian Parliament Member Lesia Vasylenko said Friday.
“NATO member states, which (have) much more developed, sophisticated armies, have been standing on the sidelines, sort of watching the situation in Ukraine as a Netflix TV series,” Vasylenko said in an interview on “Morning in America.” “We have been standing up for one month against the second-largest army in the world, and a nuclear power at that, doing it largely with our own resources, with limited help.”
Following the beginning of the emergency NATO summit on Thursday, where the alliance met in Brussels to discuss the war, Vasylenko said the words of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy need to be given as much attention as possible.
“To be honest, the only thing that Ukrainians want to hear right now is when other countries will start supporting us really, by standing here in Ukraine on the ground and in the air,” Vasylenko said. “The only thing that can stop [Russian President Vladimir] Putin is a force that he can no longer reckon with. And unfortunately, it’s only through forceful measures that this war can be ended, and that Putin’s aggression can be stopped from spreading.”
Because he aims to exterminate Ukraine and kill Ukrainian people, Putin is only going to get more aggressive, Vasylenko said.
“With such a goal in mind, there’s nothing that will make him stop,” she said. “No words, no agreements, no contracts, nothing.”
To put an end to Putin’s violent actions, Vasylenko said, countries of the free world need to unite and push him back into Russia, and “then help Russia to get rid of this totalitarian dictator and reform the country so that the people of Russia can also be free of his terrorist grip.”
Despite pleas from Zelenskyy, U.S. President Joe Biden and NATO allies have not imposed a no-fly zone over Ukraine. They say it’s because a no-fly zone would require NATO allies to shoot Russian planes out of the sky, leading to a broader war with Russia.
Vasylenko said she doesn’t believe people’s arguments that putting NATO troops in Ukraine will provoke Putin.
Putin has no resources to spare, Vasylenko said.
“There are the countries which are supporting Putin. You can see it by the votes in the U.N. General Assembly. These countries are few and they are not strong,” she said.
A new poll by NewsNation shows that Americans want Russia to pay a higher price for its invasion of Ukraine, with more than two-thirds of those asked supporting a no-fly zone. Almost 70% of those surveyed somewhat or strongly approve of the U.S. enforcing a no-fly zone over Ukraine.
“Putin is targeting not just Ukraine, he wants more,” Vasylenko said. “He wants to rebuild the Russian Empire. And this power struggle is a power struggle between democracy and authoritarianism. And if we want to put an end to authoritarianism and support democracy and human rights, then it’s only right to come in and start acting now to stop this aggression.”
