The Washington Post reported that CIA Director William Burns paid a secret visit to Kyiv last week. During the meeting with President Volodymyr Zelensky, he was to give his predictions about Russia’s future military strategy.
about the president’s trip CIA William J Burns Ukraine I wrote in the Washington Post Friday. He pointed out that the organization’s spokesman refused to provide details of the meeting with the Ukrainian president.
Based on its sources, the newspaper reported that the interlocutors asked how long Ukraine could count on assistance United States of America And the West after the Republican takeover of the House of Representatives and the decline in support for aid to this country by part of the American electorate.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr ZelenskyUkrainian Presidential Press Service / PAP / EPA
“Volodymyr Zelensky and his associates were under the impression after a meeting last week that the Biden administration’s support for Kyiv remains strong, and that the $45 billion in emergency money for Ukraine, passed by Congress in December, would suffice until at least July or August,” WP notes. .
Burns noted that at some point it will be difficult to get help. So Kyiv is less confident about the prospects of Congress passing another multibillion-dollar aid package, as it was last spring.
During the meeting with Zelensky, the CIA chief was also supposed to talk about his predictions about the future military strategy. Russia In the course of recent massive attacks, including around Bakhmut and Ukraine’s preparations for a counterattack.
William Burns Getty Images
WP: Burns is a figure Zelensky’s team respects
The newspaper pointed out that Burns, the former US ambassador to Moscow, is a figure respected by Zelensky’s team. They appreciate, for example, his warning that the Russians would aim to capture Ukraine’s Antonov Airport at the start of the invasion. He also gained recognition in Kyiv of his skepticism about the feel of negotiations with the Kremlin on ending the conflict at this point.
The newspaper pointed out that Burns linked the Russian president’s decision to invade Ukraine as an essential step in his goal of restoring Moscow to its former glory. He argued that the Kremlin leader does not believe this would be realistic without creating a sphere of influence and control over Ukraine.
“This is what, I believe, led to this terrible war,” the Washington Daily quoted the CIA chief as saying at a security forum in July in Aspen.
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