Kira Rudyk, a member of Ukraine's parliament, told Newsmax on Monday that some European countries are starting to ignore what Russian President Vladimir Putin thinks and instead focus on their own country.
The Ukrainian politician's comment comes in light of reports of Russian forces being pushed out of Ukraine.
"Russia is retreating in different directions," Rudyk said on "Eric Bolling The Balance."
Rudyk added that when the war was getting underway, some European countries were saying,"'yeah, we shouldn't probably be doing that, because what would Russia think,'" in regard to aiding Ukraine or going against Putin's wishes. "I'm talking about Sweden ... joining NATO right now. [But] right now, it's more like 'OK, so Russia wouldn't like that? So what?'"
"And I like this attitude. This is the world's attitude that should have changed a while ago."
"Many countries are talking right now saying, 'yeah, yeah, we were holding off because we didn't want to irritate Putin.' We see that he can be pushed back. We see that you should probably worry about your country's best interests rather than what a tyrant thinks," Rudyk said.
A dichotomy of opinions emerged this past week, with some saying Russia's loss of ground in Ukraine pushes the world toward tensions resembling those of the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. In contrast, some say Russia would not likely use nuclear weapons.
On Saturday, The New York Times's Ross Douthat wrote the opinion that if Ukrainian forces keep advancing, it could make nuclear escalation "much more likely."
"We know that Russian military doctrine," Douthat wrote, "envisions using tactical nuclear weapons defensively, to turn the tide in a losing war. We should assume that Putin and his circle regard total defeat in Ukraine as a regime-threatening scenario.
''Combine those realities with a world where the Russians are suddenly being routed, their territorial gains evaporating, and you have the most nuclear-shadowed military situation since our naval blockade of Cuba in 1962."
Conversely, former national security adviser John Bolton said that Russia is unlikely to use nuclear weapons.
With regard to Putin using nuclear weapons, Bolton said in a Friday Washington Examiner report, "I don't think his resorting to nuclear weapons comes until he's in an existential threat position, which I would define as Russian forces in full and complete retreat out of Ukraine, maybe even Ukraine entering into Russian territory."
While there have been no known reports of a "full" retreat, there were, however, reports over the weekend of Russian forces retreating from a battle in Kharkiv.
About NEWSMAX TV:
NEWSMAX is the fastest-growing cable news channel in America!
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.