Ukraine’s Zelenskyy didn’t want to hear US intel on possible Russian invasion, Biden says: Live updates
President Joe Biden, speaking to donors at a Democratic fundraiser in Los Angeles, said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy “didn’t want to hear it” when U.S. intelligence gathered information that Russia was preparing to invade.
The remarks cameas the war continues into its fourth month.
“Nothing like this has happened since World War II. I know a lot of people thought I was maybe exaggerating. But I knew we had data to sustain hewas going to go in, off the border,” Biden said of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“There was no doubt,” Biden said. “And Zelenskyy didn’t want to hear it.”
Although Zelenskyy has inspired people with his leadership during the war, his preparation for the invasion – or lack thereof – has remained a controversial issue.
Mykhailo Podoliak, an adviser to the head of Ukraine’s President’s Office, responded to Biden’s comments Saturday in Interfax Ukraine, saying that while the level of aggression from Russia was a shock, the country quickly rallied its military presence to fight back.
“Ukraine understood the intentions of the Russians, expected one or another aggressive scenario, prepared for it, which sharply broke the original Russian plans,” Podoliak wrote to Interfax. “I think it is pointless to blame the country, which is more than 100 days (into) a full-fledged war against a much more resourceful opponent, if key countries have failed to prevent the militaristic appetites of the Russian Federation, knowing them well.”
Latest developments:
►A German modern air defense system will arrive in Ukraine in October, Ukrainian Ambassador to Germany Andriy Melnyk told Ukraine’s Novoye Vremya on Saturday. “This system is the coolest in the world,” he said.
►Mykhaylo Podolyak, a senior adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, told the BBC that Ukrainian forces were losing between 100 and 200 troops a day.
How it’s unfolding in maps
Family of UK man captured while fighting for Ukraine ‘devastated’ by death sentence
The family of a British man condemned to death for fighting for Ukraine said it is devastated by the outcome of what it termed a “show trial” and called Saturday for him to be released and accorded the treatment an international human rights convention guarantees prisoners of war.
A court in the separatist-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic of Ukraine convicted two British fighters and one Moroccan on Thursday of seeking the violent overthrow of power, an offense punishable by death in the eastern territory controlled by Moscow-backed rebels. The men were also convicted of mercenary activities and terrorism.
“Our whole family is devastated and saddened at the outcome of the illegal show trial,” the family of one of the British men, Shaun Pinner, said.
A statement issued by Britain’s Foreign Office on behalf of Pinner’s family said the 48-year-old had been a resident of Ukraine for four years.
European Commission to assess Ukraine bid by ‘end of next week’
After talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other leadership, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Saturday the group’s assessment of Ukraine’s application to become a member of the European Union would be finalized by “the end of next week.”
“The path is known; it is a path based on merit,” von der Leyen told press after the talks, according to European Pravda. “This is a path where I appreciate the extraordinary determination of Ukrainians in this process.”
She added that while Ukraine is currently at war and must focus on that for the time being, she expects to see efforts made by the Ukrainian government to “strengthen the rule of law” and “fight corruption.”
Ukraine confirms damage to 380 of country’s cultural landmarks
More than 380 cultural landmarks in Ukraine have been damaged or destroyed since Russia began its invasion in March, Ukraine’s Minister of Culture and Information wrote on Telegram on Saturday.
That figure includes 142 religious buildings, more than 50 of which are registered as monuments of history or valuable historical buildings. Some 30 museums also saw damage.
More than 100 objects of cultural heritage were damaged or destroyed, too, including 21 monuments.
“The portrait of our enemy is absolutely clear – barbarians,” Oleksandr Tkachenko, the culture minister, wrote.
PUTIN’S WAR IN UKRAINE IS DRIVING A HIDDEN HORROR:Sex trafficking of women and children
Mariupol’s ‘Freedom Square’ renamed after Russian leader, mayor’s aide says
In the southern port city Mariupol, which fell in May, Russian forces have renamed the city’s once vibrant “Freedom Square” after a previous Russian leader.
“The madness here has remained with Russia,” Petro Andryushchenko, an aide to Mariupol’s mayor, wrote on Telegram Saturday. “The occupants changed Freedom Square in Mariupol into Lenin Square and raised their tricolor over it.
“What symbolism,” Andryushchenko continued. “A tricolor against the background of demolished burned buildings on Lenin Square.”