Volodymyr Zelenskyy wanted to attack Russia within its borders. The Washington Post reports some leaks from the Pentagon depicting a Zelenskyy with an “aggressive” instinct, quite different from the image of a “calm and stoic man facing the brutal” Russian invasion.
The Kiev leader “has won the trust of Western governments by refusing to use the weapons he was given to attack Russia at home, but privately he has proposed a much bolder direction,” writes the Washington Post and reports on some of Zelensky’s forward hypotheses. These include “occupying villages in Russia to have more influence over Moscow, bombing an oil pipeline carrying oil from Russia to Hungary, and using long-range missiles to attack Russia at its borders.”
The secret papers relate to a number of meetings over the past few months. In a late January report, Zelenskyy suggested that Kiev should “carry out attacks on Russia” while ground forces advance into enemy territory and “occupy unspecified Russian border towns,” according to one of the top-secret documents. A move aimed at “giving Kiev greater leverage in talks with Moscow.”
In another February meeting with General Valery Zaluzhny, Zelenskyy expressed his “concern” that Ukraine does not have “long-range missiles capable of reaching Russian troop deployments in Russia.” The Ukrainian President then “suggested that some places in Rostov,” a region in western Russia, be attacked with drones. Then, in mid-February, at a meeting with Deputy Prime Minister Yulia Zvrydenko, Zelenskyy suggested that Ukraine should “blow up” the Soviet-era Druzhba pipeline that supplies Hungary with oil. A meaningless “threat,” according to US intelligence: Zelenskyi “expressed his anger towards Hungary” and probably “indulged in exaggerated and meaningless threats,” according to one of the documents cited by the Washington Post.
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