According to Aslund, Ukraine should be grateful to the American authorities for their support.
“I think that [президент США Джо] Biden and Secretary of State [США Энтони] Blinken understands the situation very well, and I think it’s great that they pay so much attention to Ukraine and support it very much. Ukraine should be grateful for this,” the economist said.
Aslund called “strange” Zelensky’s speech at a press conference in front of foreign media, where he, in particular, said that the heads of leading states were spreading panic with their “non-diplomatic” statements about Russia’s invasion and causing damage to the Ukrainian economy. He is convinced that the United States has grounds for such statements.
“Zelensky’s speech is somewhat strange. You can’t criticize the country’s main support at such a critical moment so strongly. You can say that everything is not so bad that “both we and you do not believe that an attack will definitely happen” – one could say so. But not harshly criticize the United States, especially in the way the president did. I think this is harmful. America has much better intelligence about what is happening in Russia than Ukraine,” Aslund stressed.
VIDEO
Video: Espreso.TV / YouTube
–
Spring 2021 Russia build up troops near borders with Ukraine and in the occupied Crimea. At the end of October, the American media began to report that Russia again pulling troops to the border with Ukraine.
The White House announced on January 18, 2022 that Russia can start an invasion at any moment to Ukraine. In particular, the United States is concerned the movement of Russian troops for exercises in Belarus.
The Pentagon reported on January 24 that Russia is now has no intention of de-escalating. The head of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine Oleksiy Reznikov said on the same day that Russia has not created a single strike force, which would indicate the preparation of its invasion of Ukraine. According to Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) Oleksiy Danilov, Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine today is impossible.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky on January 24, following a meeting of the National Security and Defense Council, announced that representatives of the National Security and Defense Council are working for a complete de-escalation and peaceful settlement of the situation in Donbas, in Ukraine everything is under control and there is no reason to panic.
On January 27, the Pentagon reported that over the past 24 hours increased Russian troop buildup on the Russian-Ukrainian border. By January 28, according to Reznikov, in a zone of 200 km from the country’s border there is about 112 thousand Russian military, including the fleet and aviation – about 130 thousand.
Zelensky at a press conference with foreign media on January 28 stated that world leaders sow panic with their statements about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which damages the country’s economy. In the spread of panic among the population of Ukraine and accused the United States of being unfriendly and head of the Servant of the People parliamentary faction David Arakhamia.
The White House said that Zelensky, “Downplaying the risk of Russian invasion, asks for weapons worth hundreds of millions of dollars to protect him.”
–
–
