Ukraine’s Office of the President responds to Biden's reproaches: key countries were unable to prevent Russia's appetites

VALENTYNA ROMANENKO — SATURDAY, 11 JUNE 2022, 15:13

Mykhailo Podoliak, an adviser to the head of the President's Office, said it was "absurd to blame a country that has been resisting a powerful Russian aggressor for more than 100 days, if key countries were unable to stop Russia preemptively."

Source: Podoliak's comment, circulated to the media on 11 June, quoted by Interfax-Ukraine

Details: According to Podoliak, Ukraine realised that Russia was planning an invasion and was preparing for it, but the scale of the attack exceeded all expectations. This was Podoliak’s response to US President Joe Biden saying that President Zelenskyy had ignored his warning that Russia would invade Ukraine.

Quote from Podoliak: "Volodymyr Zelenskyy always had relevant analytics on his desk, based on high-quality intelligence. The president also responded carefully to all the words and warnings of our partners.

The question had always been just what the scale of the invasion would be. Without a doubt, the scale of the invasion we saw on 24 February shocked many countries, including our partners."

Details: Podoliak pointed out that Ukraine understood the Russians’ intentions, had expected an aggressive scenario of some kind, and was preparing for it.

This, he said, is evidenced by, among other things, the dispersal of ammunition depots and weapons in general, the lightning-fast reaction to the multilevel invasion and restructuring of defence capabilities, and the effective introduction of remote strikes in the first week, which crushed Russia's initial plans.

According to Podoliak, the speed with which the state administration was rebuilt on a war footing and "the almost lightning-fast recovery of our country from shock" are important.

Quote from Podoliak: "And finally, the key thing, it seems to me that it is absurd to blame a country which has been effectively fighting a fully-fledged war against a much more resourceful opponent for more than 100 days, if key countries were unable to prevent Russia’s militaristic appetites, which they were well aware of."