“When you read media, you get the image that we have troops in the city, people fleeing … That’s not the case.”
QUICK FACTS:
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told reporters Friday that the mainstream media hype about a potential Russian invasion is creating needless “panic,” The New York Post reports.
- “Do we have tanks on the streets?” Zelensky asked rhetorically during a news conference. “No. When you read media, you get the image that we have troops in the city, people fleeing … That’s not the case.”
- Zelensky also denied the repeated suggestion by Washington that a Russian attack may be “imminent.”
- “I’m the president of Ukraine and I’m based here and I think I know the details better here,” he said.
WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE HAS SAID:
- While Ukraine’s government has repeatedly pushed a message of calm in recent weeks, the Biden admin. has repeatedly used words like “imminent” or “could be imminent” to describe the possibility of war, The Post reports.
- During a Thursday briefing, State Department spokesperson Ned Price defended the White House’s characterization of the situation when pressed whether such language could cause undue panic in Ukraine, saying, “I do not think us voicing our concerns regarding what Moscow may well have in store is bringing us any closer to conflicts.”
- “The only thing that is bringing us closer to conflict are moves and the measures that we have seen from the Russian Federation,” Price added.
BACKGROUND:
- Zelensky also blasted the West’s timeline for potential sanctions, saying Friday, “If there’s a full-scale war tomorrow, why do we need sanctions afterwards? I don’t think it’s fair,” The Post reported.
