Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky learned about the massive leak of U.S. intelligence documents from the news and has not had any conversations regarding the matter with the White House, Zelensky told the Washington Post in an interview.
“I did not receive information from the White House or the Pentagon beforehand,” Zelensky said during the interview. “We did not have that information. I personally did not. It’s definitely a bad story.”
“It is unprofitable for us,” Zelensky said. “It is not beneficial to the reputation of the White House, and I believe it is not beneficial to the reputation of the United States.”
The leaked documents are part of a trove of classified U.S. military and intelligence files that appeared on the social media network Discord. The documents provided a grim assessment of the strength of Moscow's war machine and suggested that Ukraine's military was also in dire straights, including critical shortages of Ukrainian air defense munitions.
The leaks also revealed that the U.S. was spying on top Ukrainian officials, including Zelensky. In response to a question from the Washington Post of whether this caused tension between Ukraine and the United States, Zelenksy said that, "I cannot risk our state,” implying that he did not want to publicly state his position and jeopardize crucial U.S. support for Ukraine's war effort.
“Where I can speak frankly, I do it. But there are high risks,” he said. “If it were my war against (Russian dictator Vladimir) Putin, and there were two of us on the battlefield, I would tell everyone what I think of them. But here the story is a little different. We are all responsible.”
Igor Kossov
(Updated: )
