President Joe Biden chatted with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to discuss the potential military conflict between Ukraine and Russia on Thursday, but according to a report citing anonymous sources, the call “did not go well.” CNN first reported the story on Thursday evening, causing both the White House and the Ukrainian government to respond and dismiss any anonymous leaking about the call as “completely false.”
The call reportedly lasted one hour and 20 minutes and was described as candid by the two leaders, but the two countries reportedly did not see eye to eye on how much a threat Russia truly posed.
On the call, which the Ukrainian official described as “long and frank,” Biden warned his Ukrainian counterpart that a Russian attack may be imminent, saying that an invasion was now virtually certain, once the ground had frozen later in February, according to the official.
Zelensky, however, said his position was that the threat from Russia remains “dangerous but ambiguous,” and it is not certain that an attack will take place, the official said. CNN’s Alexander Marquardt gave more insight, claiming that sources told CNN that Biden told Zelensky point-blank that Ukraine was about to be “sacked.”
“A Russian invasion is now virtually certain once the ground freezes, Biden said to Zelensky, a senior Ukrainian official told @mchancecnn . Kyiv could be “sacked,” Russian forces may attempt to occupy it, “prepare for impact”, Biden said, according to this official,” Marquardt tweeted.
Alex Marquardt on X (formerly Twitter): “A Russian invasion is now virtually certain once the ground freezes, Biden said to Zelensky, a senior Ukrainian official told @mchancecnn. Kyiv could be “sacked,” Russian forces may attempt to occupy it, “prepare for impact”, Biden said, according to this official. / X”
A Russian invasion is now virtually certain once the ground freezes, Biden said to Zelensky, a senior Ukrainian official told @mchancecnn. Kyiv could be “sacked,” Russian forces may attempt to occupy it, “prepare for impact”, Biden said, according to this official.
That tweet prompted White House National Security Council spokesman Emily Horne to deny those words were ever said by Biden.
“This is not true,” Horne rebutted. “President Biden said that there is a distinct possibility that the Russians could invade Ukraine in February. He has previously said this publicly & we have been warning about this for months. Reports of anything more or different than that are completely false.”
“Anonymous sources are ‘leaking falsehoods,’” CNN reported that they were told by a White House spokesperson.
For their part, Ukraine officials also denied the report, claiming that CNN’s reports were “completely false.”
“President of #Ukraine’s spokesperson stated that some reports regarding today’s conversation of President Zelenskyy and President Biden are completely false. He also encouraged to carefully treat all information in this troubled time especially from the unconfirmed sources,” the Ukrainian Embassy tweeted.
