Efrem Lukatsky/AP Photo
- Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens have previously criticized US support for Ukraine.
- Wladimir Klitschko told Newsmax that anyone who opposed helping Ukraine is “part of this invasion.”
- Klitschko, a champion boxer whose brother is Kyiv’s mayor, recently joined the Ukrainian military.
Wladimir Klitschko told Newsmax on Monday that Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens, who have vocally opposed helping Ukraine, are “part of” Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, citing their opposition to US support for the country.
Wladimir Klitschko, the former boxing champion whose brother Vitali is mayor of Kyiv, made the comments during an appearance on “Eric Bolling The Balance” on Monday.
He was responding to a question by Bolling about what he would say to the “small group” of American who believe the conflict in Ukraine is “not America’s problem.” He named Owens and Carlson as examples.
“If you passively observe what is going on, and we do share the same principles of freedom and democratic principles, like the United States, like the Western world, so to speak. If you are passively observing, you are part of this invasion, blood is on your hands, too,” Klitschko said.
“If you still have business and trade with Russia and you don’t isolate Russia economically, you’re bringing bullets and rockets into the Russian army’s hands…” he said. “Those disturbing images of my country … you should feel a connection with that.”
Klitschko, a former heavyweight boxing champion, joined the Ukrainian Territorial Defence Forces in Kyiv a few weeks before Russia’s invasion of the country. Vitali Klitschko, also a former boxing champion, has been mayor of Kyiv since 2014.
Carlson has repeatedly praised Russian President Vladimir Putin in the lead-up to the invasion and also questioned why America should assist Ukraine in its fight against Russia.
Even though he has changed his view of Putin since the invasion, Carlson was still critical of the support for Ukraine by Americans earlier this month, calling it “the largest political flash mob in American history,” The Independent reported.
Owens also received backlash for her claim that Ukraine “wasn’t a thing until 1989” and that it was “stupid” to suggest Putin was carrying out a “genocide” in the country, according to The Independent.
Her words were endorsed by the Russian embassy in Washington D.C. after tweeting the phrase “Russian lives matter,” Salon reported.
Owens and Carlson did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment.
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