一名乌克兰出生的女议员对援助投了反对票。 她的家乡感觉被背叛了
Siobhán O'Grady、Anastacia Galouchka 2024 年 4 月 25 日
周二，32 岁的泰蒂安娜·波利什丘克 (Tetiana Polishchuk) 和她 6 岁的孩子德米特罗 (Dmytro) 和 2 岁的孩子达莎 (Dasha) 参观 4 月 17 日俄罗斯导弹袭击乌克兰切尔尼戈夫的地点，这次袭击造成 18 人死亡、60 多人受伤。（Oksana Parafeniuk for The 华盛顿邮报）
乌克兰切尔尼艾夫——在基辅北部的这座小城市里，众议员维多利亚·斯帕茨 (R-Ind.) 长大了，当地人曾称赞她是他们自己的一员，为这位留着金发辫子的好学女孩感到自豪，她移居美国并成为了 第一位乌克兰出生的国会议员。
但上周斯巴茨投票反对向乌克兰提供 610 亿美元的援助计划后，一些人的自豪感变成了愤怒和背叛感——这种感觉变得更加刺痛，因为她投了“反对”票，几天前切尔尼戈夫在早高峰时段遭到轰炸，造成人员伤亡。 18人。
“她不再是乌克兰人了，我看到了这一点，”50 岁的纳塔利娅·赫梅尔尼茨卡 (Natalia Khmelnytska) 说，她是斯巴茨就读的 15 号学校的一名教师，她住在这位女议员长大的公寓楼里。 “我们很失望。 我们很沮丧。”
“起初我们为她感到非常自豪，我们认为她想支持我们，”赫梅尔尼茨卡补充道。 “但现在我们看到政治和事业高于我们的利益。”
65 岁的历史老师瓦伦蒂娜·鲁德诺克 (Valentyna Rudenok) 是一名历史老师，斯巴茨在学校读书时她是一名图书管理员，她记得偷偷给这位青少年偷了额外的书。她说，得知一名以前的学生当选为国会议员，她感到很自豪。 但鲁德诺克表示，她对斯巴茨的投票感到不安。
“当我们读到这件事时，我们只是不明白——就像她变成了另一个人，”她说。 “这令人震惊，因为这位女士在她的人生中走了这么远，她所处的位置实际上可以影响和帮助我们的一座城市或她接受教育的一所学校。”
过去两年，已有8名15校毕业生在前线战斗中牺牲。 俄罗斯的空袭已打碎了该建筑 88 扇窗户。 管理人员在一楼设立了一个博物馆，展示学生收集的战争证据：炮弹碎片、俄罗斯飞机的碎片、死去的俄罗斯士兵的制服。
在国会山，即使在共和党人中，斯巴茨也是出了名的反复无常。
她于 2020 年首次作为唐纳德·特朗普总统的支持者当选，去年宣布不会再次竞选，但一年后又改变了决定，理由是她在“暴政”下成长。 她现在面临着一场竞争激烈的初选。 一位挑战者播放了电视广告，指责她将“乌克兰优先”置于保护美国边境的安全之上。
斯巴茨的“反对”票是她从一位在家乡参观战争废墟的亲乌克兰倡导者转变为乌克兰总统弗拉基米尔·泽连斯基的批评者的转变的最新转折，与共和党最右翼阵营保持一致。
她在一封电子邮件中为自己的投票进行了辩护，称她为自己的传统感到自豪，但“认为作为美国人，我的忠诚度不会忠于选举我代表他们的人民，也不忠于我的祖国，这实际上是无礼的，也是非美国人的”。 家人和孩子回到了印第安纳州的家乡，但回到了我 24 年前离开的国家的一些外国政府。”
然而，她的历史与乌克兰的历史密不可分，而且她一再利用它来为自己谋取利益。
2022 年 2 月俄罗斯入侵后，军队迅速向距离俄罗斯边境仅 50 英里的切尔尼戈夫推进。 斯巴茨的祖母是被困者之一，这座城市遭到持续的炮击和空投。 许多居民死亡。 （她的祖母在袭击中幸存下来，但后来去世，享年 95 岁。）
斯巴茨于 2022 年 4 月访问了这座城市，就在几周前，俄罗斯军队未能占领这座城市并撤退。 居民们睡在地下，没有电，只能在外面生火做饭。 她就读高中的 15 号学校的地下室里睡着数百人。
当时会见她的该市代理市长奥列克桑德·洛马科 (Oleksandr Lomako) 认为这次旅行是勇敢的支持迹象。 斯巴茨的转变让他大吃一惊。 “我非常失望，”他说。
“她来过这里，”洛马科补充道。 他说，她看到的破坏和她遇到的失去亲人的人“不是来自新闻，不是来自福克斯新闻或保守派渠道。”
俄罗斯入侵后，众议院共和党人急切地将麦克风递给斯巴茨，分享她的故事。 她热情地保卫祖国，身穿蓝色和黄色衣服，批评拜登总统在入侵之前没有对俄罗斯实施更多制裁，并承诺为援助而战。
当她从 2022 年 4 月的访问归来时，她投票支持了向乌克兰提供 400 亿美元的法案，并在拜登签署一项迅速增加军事支持的法律时站在他一边。
出生于乌克兰的众议员维多利亚·斯巴茨（印第安纳州共和党人）称俄罗斯对乌克兰的入侵是“种族灭绝”，并呼吁拜登总统采取更多行动。 （视频：华盛顿邮报）
但到了那个夏天，斯巴茨开始批评泽伦斯基——在国会中得到广泛关注
作为一名战争英雄——敦促他“停止玩弄政治和戏剧”。 斯巴茨表示，国会应该对援助施加条件，并加强对资金的监督——共和党人已经放大了这一话题。
斯巴茨的言论激怒了基辅。 外交部发言人奥列格·尼科连科(Oleg Nikolenko)在脸书上发帖称，他已告诉斯巴茨“不要再试图利用……乌克兰人的悲痛来赚取额外的政治资本。”
斯巴茨的家人也为这种悲痛所感动。
1978 年，她原名维多利亚·库尔黑科 (Viktoria Kulheyko)，出生于当时属于苏联的诺西夫卡镇。 她搬到切尔尼戈夫上幼儿园，1986 年，她的工程师父亲在切尔诺贝利核灾难后提供了帮助，使他暴露在辐射下，后来导致了癌症。
1991 年乌克兰宣布独立时，斯巴茨只有 12 岁。那一年，她的父亲去世了。
他的公司帮助支付她在基辅的大学学费，2000 年，她在遇到丈夫杰森 (Jason) 后移民到美国。 他们定居在他的家乡印第安纳州，并育有两个女儿。 在当选印第安纳州参议员之前，她从事会计和房地产工作。
70 岁的 Oleksandr Serdyuk 是 Spartz 父亲的密友，从小就认识她，并在 2022 年 Spartz 来访时见到了她。
谢尔杜克表示，他对她的投票感到失望。 “我并不真正相信言语，我相信行动，”他说。 “她投票的方式和修正案更生动地向我展示了她的意图。”
谢尔杜克说，像斯巴茨一样，乌克兰人也担心腐败，但美国的援助对于乌克兰的生存至关重要。
“我理解反腐败的斗争，”他在办公室窗外响起空袭警报时说道。 “但你牺牲的是我们的国家。 ......任何政治动机或选举动机都不能成为这么多人死亡的理由。”
斯巴茨不仅参与阻止援助法案，还推动修正案以减少援助计划并限制对乌克兰的其他援助。
“拜登总统和泽伦斯基总统让乌克兰人民失望了，”斯巴茨周六在投票前在众议院表示。 斯巴茨在给《华盛顿邮报》的电子邮件中表示，她“为乌克兰人民和前线战士感到难过，他们选举了糟糕的领导人，并为此付出了高昂的代价。”
本周，在 15 号学校的走廊里，工作人员准备了自己的援助物资：为乌克兰军队编织迷彩网。 当防空警报响起时，学生们纷纷涌向地下室。 同一栋建筑中仍然保存着斯巴茨的一些历史记录，包括她 20 世纪 90 年代初的成绩，这些成绩是按 1 到 5 的等级手写在主任保存在她保险箱里的泛黄笔记本上的。
历史老师鲁德诺克说，如果她现在能与斯巴茨交谈，她会注意到这位女议员的孩子们——在印第安纳州很安全——“不会在晚上被空袭警报吵醒。”
“我会问她这是怎么发生的，”她说。 “谁能把她得罪得这么严重？”
在斯巴茨儿时位于切尔尼戈夫的公寓楼外的长凳上，两名老年妇女猜测她为何投了“反对票”。 他们接受《华盛顿邮报》采访时表示，为了保持与斯巴茨家人的关系，只透露姓名。
其中一位名叫哈利娜（Halyna），为斯巴茨辩护。 “我认为她不希望乌克兰发生任何不好的事情，”哈利纳说。 “她支持特朗普，所以她被迫那样投票。 她不是国家的敌人。 ……她没有其他选择。”
另一位名叫内莉亚（Nelia）的人则不确定：“我们不知道她有什么选择，也不知道她为什么会这样投票。”
在诺西夫卡村，一名妇女去开门，邻居们说这所房子属于斯巴茨的亲戚。 当被问及她与国会女议员是否有关系时，她说：“我会把人们的舌头扯下来。” “没有意见。”然后她关上门。
A Ukraine-born congresswoman voted no on aid. Her hometown feels betrayed.
CHERNIHIV, Ukraine — In this small city north of Kyiv where Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-Ind.) grew up, locals once lauded her as one of their own — proud of the studious girl with blonde pigtails who moved to America and became the first Ukrainian-born member of Congress.
But after Spartz voted against a $61 billion aid package for Ukraine last week, that pride for some turned to anger and a sense of betrayal — feelings made more raw because her “no” vote came days after Chernihiv was bombed during morning rush hour, killing 18 people.
“She is not Ukrainian anymore, and I see this,” said Natalia Khmelnytska, 50, a teacher at School Number 15, where Spartz studied, and who lives in the apartment block where the congresswoman grew up. “We are disappointed. We are frustrated.”
“At first we were very proud of her and we thought she wanted to support us,” Khmelnytska added. “But now we see that politics and careers are higher than our interests.”
Valentyna Rudenok, 65, a history teacher who was a librarian when Spartz studied at the school and remembers sneaking the teenager extra books, said she was proud to learn a former student was elected to Congress. But Rudenok said she is upset by Spartz’s vote.
“When we read about it, we just didn’t understand — it was like she became a different person,” she said. “It was shocking because this woman got so far in her life and is in a position where she could actually influence and help our one city or our one school in which she was educated.”
In the past two years, eight graduates of School 15 have been killed fighting on the front lines. Russian strikes have broken 88 of the building’s windows. Administrators set up a museum on the first floor to display evidence of the war collected by students: shell fragments, a piece of a Russian airplane, a dead Russian soldier’s uniform.
On Capitol Hill, even among Republicans, Spartz is known to be erratic.
First elected in 2020 as a supporter of President Donald Trump, she announced last year that she would not run again, only to reverse her decision a year later, citing her upbringing “under tyranny” as a motivation. She now faces a competitive primary; one challenger has aired television ads accusing her of putting “Ukraine first” over securing the U.S. border.
Spartz’s “no” vote was the latest twist in her transformation from a pro-Ukraine advocate who toured war wreckage in her hometown to a critic of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, in line with the GOP’s most right-wing camp.
In an email, she defended her vote, saying she is proud of her heritage but that it is “actually offensive and un-American to think that as an American my loyalty would not be to the people who elected me to represent them and to my family and children back home in Indiana, but to some foreign government in the country I left 24 years ago.”
Her history, however, is inseparable from Ukraine’s and she has used it repeatedly to her advantage.
After Russia invaded in February 2022, troops advanced quickly toward Chernihiv, just 50 miles from the Russian border. Spartz’s grandmother was among those trapped as the city came under constant shelling and aerial bombs. Many residents died. (Her grandmother survived the attacks but later died at age 95.)
Spartz visited in April 2022, just weeks after Russian forces failed to capture the city and retreated. Residents had slept underground and survived without electricity, cooking over fires outside. Hundreds slept in the basement of School Number 15, where she attended high school.
The city’s acting mayor, Oleksandr Lomako, who met her then, saw the trip as a brave sign of support. Spartz’s shift has stunned him. “I’m very disappointed,” he said.
“She’s been here,” Lomako added. The destruction she saw and people she met who lost loved ones, he said, “is not from the news, not from Fox News or conservative channels.”
After Russia’s invasion, House Republicans eagerly handed Spartz the microphone to share her story. She made passionate defenses of her homeland, wore blue and yellow, criticized President Biden for not imposing more sanctions on Russia before the invasion, and pledged to fight for aid.
When she returned from her April 2022 trip, she voted for bills sending $40 billion to Ukraine and stood by Biden’s side as he signed a law to rapidly ramp up military support.
Ukraine-born Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-Ind.) called the Russian invasion of Ukraine a "genocide" and called on President Biden to do more. (Video: The Washington Post)
But by that summer, Spartz began criticizing Zelensky — widely seen in Congress as a war hero — urging him to “stop playing politics and theater.” Spartz said Congress should impose conditions on aid and more oversight of funds — a talking point Republicans have amplified.
Spartz’s rhetoric rankled Kyiv. Oleg Nikolenko, a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry, posted on Facebook that he had told Spartz “to stop trying to earn extra political capital on … the grief of Ukrainians.”
Spartz’s own family has been touched by that grief.
She was born Viktoria Kulheyko in 1978 in the town of Nosivka, then part of the Soviet Union. She moved to Chernihiv for kindergarten and in 1986, her father, an engineer, helped in the aftermath of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, exposing him to radiation that later caused cancer.
Spartz was 12 when Ukraine declared independence in 1991. Her father died that year.
His company helped pay for her college education in Kyiv and in 2000, she immigrated after meeting her husband, Jason. They settled in Indiana, his home state, and had two daughters. She worked in accounting and real estate before being elected to Indiana’s state senate.
Oleksandr Serdyuk, 70, a close friend of Spartz’s father who has known her since she was a child, met with her when she visited in 2022.
Serdyuk said he was disappointed by her vote. “I don’t really trust in words, I trust in actions,” he said. “The way she voted, the amendments, show me a lot more colorfully what her intentions are.”
Serdyuk said that like Spartz, Ukrainians worry about corruption, but that the U.S. aid is essential to Ukraine’s survival.
“I understand the fight against corruption,” he said as air raid sirens blared outside his office window. “But what you’re sacrificing is our state. … Any political motives or election motives don’t justify the deaths of so many people.”
Spartz not only joined in blocking the aid bill but pushed amendments to reduce the package and limit other help to Ukraine.
“President Biden and President Zelensky failed the Ukrainian people,” Spartz said on the House floor Saturday before the vote. In her email to The Washington Post, Spartz said she feels “bad for the Ukrainian people and fighters on the front lines who have been electing bad leaders and paying a very high price for it.”
In a hallway of School 15 this week, staff prepared their own aid: knitting camouflage nets for Ukrainian troops. When air raid sirens wail, students rush to the basement. This same building still houses bits of Spartz’s history, including her grades from the early 1990s, handwritten on a scale of 1 to 5 in yellowed notebooks the director keeps in her safe.
If she could speak to Spartz now, Rudenok, the history teacher, said she would note that the congresswoman’s children — safe in Indiana — “are not waking up at night from air raid sirens.”
“I would ask her how did this happen,” she said. “Who could have offended her so badly?”
On a bench outside Spartz’s childhood apartment building in Chernihiv, two elderly women speculated on why she voted “no.” They spoke to The Post on the condition that they be identified only by first name to preserve relations with Spartz’s family.
One, Halyna, defended Spartz. “I don’t think she wants anything bad to happen to Ukraine,” Halyna said. “She’s with Trump, so she’s forced to vote that way. She’s not an enemy of the state. … She didn’t have any other option.”
The other, Nelia, was not sure: “We don’t know what her options were or why she voted the way she did.”
In the village of Nosivka, a woman answered the door at a home that neighbors said belonged to Spartz’s relatives. “I will rip people’s tongues out,” she said when asked if she was related to the congresswoman. “No comment.”
Then she slammed the door.
Sotomayor reported from Washington.
是她：唯一乌克兰裔的众议员给援乌法案投了反对票
2024-04-22 发布于：安徽省
美国众议院通过对乌克兰援助一事引发高度关注，随后关于投票的更多细节也披露出来。其中唯一一名乌克兰裔的议员给援乌法案投了反对票，随即引起极大争议。
华盛顿邮报消息，在早些时候进行的对乌克兰援助的法案投票中，唯一的乌克兰裔众议员维多利亚·库尔盖科（Victoria Spartz）却没有赞成该议案。而是令人意外地投出了反对票。
据悉，库尔盖科是土生土长的乌克兰人，在二十岁之前生活轨迹也几乎全在乌克兰大地。
其人1978年出生于乌克兰的诺西夫卡，学生时代也是就读的乌克兰学校，并毕业于基辅国立经济大学。在校期间库尔盖科成绩优异，取得了理学学士以及企业管理的硕士学位。在2000年，她开始移民至美国，并于六年后正式取得美国身份，同时攻读了印第安纳-普渡大学的会计学硕士学位。
学业有成的库尔盖科随后从政，当了印第安纳州第5国会选区的一名众议员。不少乌克兰民众以为，尽管移民海外，但从她的生活与学习轨迹看，应该对乌克兰怀有不少的感情才是。毕竟她不是祖上就移居外国的，而是在乌克兰生活了二十多年。
此事在乌克兰也引起极大反响，事实上这也不是库尔盖科第一次引发争议，早在2022年她就曾反对美国援助乌克兰。报道同时分析，其实既然是投票，有反对也正常。尽管她乌克兰裔的身份包含了更多的“场外因素”。
但在场内，她投下反对票也是她作为议员的权利。
而对于议员来说，首先要代表的肯定是其选区内民众的意愿，她投反对票，很大程度也是取决于对印第安纳州民众的想法。
但她投下的反对票，在乌克兰还是受到了大量指责。另一方面，乌克兰总统泽连斯基在4月21日的讲话中也再次回应了援乌法案。
泽连斯基表示：我们将继续与美国各级合作伙伴合作，确保美国参议院按时通过乌克兰援助计划。对于乌克兰裔议员库尔盖科投反对票一事，泽连斯基没有作过多回应。
只是强调希望援助早日抵达乌克兰，以鼓舞前线士兵。
目前库尔盖科个人尚未回应外界争议。
