Sergei Nikiforov, who serves as the spokesperson for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, has blasted US President Joe Biden over recent remarks the American commander-in-chief made that suggested Ukrainian officials "didn't want to hear" about US intel suggesting the start of Russia special military operation.
According to a Ukrainian media reports on Saturday, Zelensky held more trust in his own intelligence.
"Therefore, the phrase 'did not want to hear' probably needs clarification," Nikiforov said, referring to Biden's comments. "In addition, if you remember, the president of Ukraine called on partners to introduce a package of preventive sanctions in order to encourage Russia to withdraw its troops and deescalate the situation."
Zelensky's spokesman added that in this case "we can already say that our partners 'did not want to hear us.'"
Nikiforov recalled that during the time before February 24, Zelensky had "three or four" telephone conversations with Biden, during which the presidents exchanged thoughts and assessments of the situation in detail.
On Friday, Biden expressed the thought that his Ukrainian counterpart, like many others, may have ignored warnings from the US of the imminent launch of Russia's special military operation.
"Nothing like this has happened since World War II," he said. "I know a lot of people thought I was maybe exaggerating. But I knew we had data to sustain [Putin] was going to go in, off the border. There was no doubt, and Zelensky didn't want to hear it."
At the time, Ukrainian officials claimed that predictions of intrusion were destabilizing Ukraine and bolstering Russia's interests. However, Ukraine sought backing in the form of lethal aid from the beginning, and the West gradually succumbed to the demands of Kiev, starting to supply heavy weapons to Ukraine, after Russian troops destroyed virtually all of Ukraine's own equipment.
Western arms shipments are often targeted by precision-guided Russian missile strikes, and top officials in Moscow have repeatedly stated that such shipments are legitimate military targets.
Since the end of fall 2021, the rising of tensions at the Ukrainian border has been widely discussed across the world. In December 2021, Russia proposed a treaty with NATO that stipulated the red lines for its own security, such as the clause on the non-expansion of NATO and the return of the alliance to the 1997 borders.
The West ultimately ignored the proposals, threatened Russia with sanctions, and supplied Ukraine with "partisan" weapons, which, according to the Kremlin, did not leave Russia a choice but to launch the special military operation to demilitarize and "de-nazify" Ukraine and ensure the safety of the people in Donbass.