Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, despite public statements that Ukraine would not use Western-supplied weapons to attack Russia, privately offered to attack Russia’s border areas and hit targets national, in particular by blowing up the Druzhba oil pipeline. “. On this subject informed The Washington Post, citing another part of the data obtained through leaks of classified documents from the US Department of Defense.
So, the newspaper writes, at one of the meetings at the end of January, Zelenskyy proposed “to strike at Russia” and at the same time “to occupy” a number of settlements on the border territory of the country. All of this could “give Kiev leverage in negotiations with Moscow”, according to the documents, which the newspaper said are marked “top secret”. What type of settlements are in question, the documents do not indicate, specifies WP.
Other documents reported by the newspaper refer to Zelenskyy’s meeting in late February with the Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces Valery Zaluzhny, during which the Ukrainian President “expressed concern” that “the country does not have long- range missiles “that could strike the sites of deployment of Russian troops on the very territory of Russia. Another document, according to WP, cites Zelenskyy’s proposal to attack “unnamed places in Rostov “using drones.
Youri Strelets / Kommersant
In addition, the documents also mention Zelenskyy’s proposal to blow up the Druzhba pipeline, through which oil is transported, inter alia, to Hungary. The Ukrainian leader spoke about it during a meeting in mid-February with Deputy Prime Minister Yulia Sviridenko. According to the newspaper, it appears from the documents that the president was unhappy with the behavior of Hungary, whose Prime Minister Viktor Orban, despite the country’s membership in NATO, is considered the European leader most favorable to the Kremlin. However, the same intelligence documents indicate that in this conversation, the Ukrainian leader “could make exaggerated and senseless threats”, writes the newspaper.
The Druzhba pipeline originates in the Samara region, passes through Bryansk and is divided into two sections: northern and southern, which cross Belarus, Ukraine, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Germany and the Hungary. May 10 at Transneft confirmed that an attempt was made to attack the pipeline, as a result of which no one was injured.
“We must use all means”
Answering a question about such “private” offers, Volodymyr Zelenskyy in an interview with the Washington Post (the full transcript of the interview with the newspaper published May 13), called these data “fantasies”, but at the same time stressed that Ukraine has every right to use any means to protect itself.
“Let’s not get carried away by fantasies. Ukraine has every right to defend itself. And we do. Ukraine did not occupy anyone, but vice versa <…> When so many people have died and there have been mass graves, I’m sure we have to use every trick, absolutely every method of response,” he said.
In a previously published fragment of this interview, Zelenskyy said he learned about the leak of secret Pentagon documents through the intel. He pointed out that Ukraine had no information about the documents, but called their “leak” “definitely a bad story”. At the same time, the Ukrainian leader stressed that the publication of such data should not lead to a deterioration in relations between the United States and Ukraine. Zelenskyy refused to confirm or deny the veracity of the published data.
Andrew Kravchenko/AP
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