The Washington Post has suggested the popular quote was never uttered by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
QUICK FACTS:
- Over the past few weeks, hundreds of news sources have repeatedly quoted Volodymyr Zelenskyy saying, “The fight is here; I need ammunition, not a ride,” referring to his response to the U.S. offering an evacuation plan for the president.
- After an investigation of the validity of the quote, the newspaper could only find one source who offered it to the Associated Press from a “senior American intelligence official,” Summit News reported.
- “The only evidence for this line is an unnamed U.S. official. It has not been confirmed by either the U.S. government or Zelensky’s office,” the Washington Post said. “Administration officials expressed confusion about the claim to The Fact Checker – they deny Zelenskyy was asked to leave Kyiv by the U.S. government – and said they do not know what call the AP is citing.”
PRESIDENT ZELENSKYY’S PRESS SECRETARY ON THE QUOTE:
“Personally, I did not hear it. It might have been said in private conversation. But I did not hear them say it straightforwardly like that.”
BACKGROUND:
- Over the past few weeks, there have been a number of incidents regarding the Russian invasion of Ukraine that have been fabricated.
- “The purpose of all these lies were to con the West into World War III and push Ukrainians to sacrifice their lives in defense of NATO expansionism and the Zelensky regime,” writer Chris Menahan of InformationLiberation said.
