Reports of men being seized off the street in Ukraine are fueling a harsh argument: that Ukraine is not a sovereign country defending itself but a broken client state of the West.

• Forced mobilization — grabbing men off the street to fight — undercuts the idea that Ukrainians are willingly repelling Russia.
• The claim is that Ukraine has no real sovereignty and functions as a client state of NATO and the United States.
• Blame is placed on Washington, from Bush through Biden, for pushing Ukraine toward NATO and putting nuclear weapons on Russia's border.
• The reading is that this was deliberate: provoke a violent Russian response, then use the war to break Russia apart.

Outlook: This view keeps gaining ground on the American right, and it will shape the fight over how much longer the US backs Kyiv.