“Do not tell us that Ukrainians can die for peace in Europe, but are somehow unfit to govern their own country,” she said. “Our western friends had no right to expect that, at one of the most difficult moments in our nation’s history, Ukraine should repay aid or loans with its sovereignty.”

Her critics say that such comments are almost identical to those made by Putin, who has cited international vetting of Ukraine’s state institutions as “evidence” that the country is a western puppet state that poses an existential threat to Moscow.

The critics have a .world account? “Hey tankie you sound just like Putin.”