Ukrainian officials pushed back Saturday against President Joe Biden’s claim that President Volodymyr Zelensky “didn’t want to hear it” when U. intelligence gathered information that Russia was preparing to invade.
Adviser Mykhailo Podolia bluntly called Biden’s allegation “absurd,” the BBC reported – blaming Biden for his refusal to hammer Russia with preventative sanctions that could have short-circuited Putin’s invasion plans.
“It is absurd to accuse a country of resisting the aggressor for more than 100 days, which prevails if key countries have failed to stop Russia as a precaution,” Podolia said.
“The phrase ‘did not want to hear’ probably needs clarification,” Zelensky spokesman Sergei Nikiforov told a Ukrainian news outlet, describing multiple phone calls between the two leaders in which they discussed intelligence findings in detail.
Biden’s finger-pointing came at a Democratic fundraiser in Los Angeles Friday night, as he discussed his work to rally and solidify support for Ukraine as the war enters its fourth month.
“Nothing like this has happened since World War II. I know a lot of people thought I was maybe exaggerating. But I knew we had data to sustain he” — meaning Russian President Vladimir Putin — “was going to go in, off the border.”
“There was no doubt,” Biden said. “And Zelensky didn’t want to hear it.”
Although Zelensky has inspired people with his leadership during the war, his preparation for the invasion — or lack thereof — has remained a controversial issue.
In the weeks before the war began on Feb. 24, Zelensky publicly bristled as Biden administration officials repeatedly warned that a Russian invasion was highly likely.
At the time, Zelensky was also concerned that the drumbeat of war was unsettling Ukraine’s fragile economy.