The Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, Oleksiy Danilov, sharply reacted to Time magazine’s report about the pessimistic atmosphere among Ukraine’s leadership, and the Kyiv official also launched a veiled attack on the president’s office. Volodymyr Zelenskyi.

“Nothing described in this article resembles what happens in the halls of government. As for the fact that he (not Zelenskyi) enters and leaves the war room, this is nonsense from the fact that someone is shouting about something he does not understand,” Danilov accused in the intervention in the podcast of the UP Live website of IA “Ukrainian Pravda”.

Danilov cites an excerpt from a Time magazine report that quotes one of Zelenskyi’s advisers as describing how the president’s attitude has changed since last year in the context of the setbacks suffered by the Ukrainian offensive that began in June.

“He comes in, gets the news, gives orders and leaves,” said a source quoted by Time magazine who claimed to be a longtime member of President Zelenskyi’s team.

“Meetings of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief’s Cabinet and military cabinets within the Cabinet are constantly held. The 114th meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers took place today,” Oleksiy Danilov said in a live broadcast on Tuesday.

“At every meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers, the president pays maximum attention to issues that come directly from the front, because all representatives of the top military leadership take part in it. It is strange to say that someone will rush and rush,” he said.

The head of the Defense Council of Ukraine attacks some members of Zelenskyi’s cabinet

“Secondly, I don’t understand where the author gets these things from. For me, this anonymity [a surselor din cancelaria lui Zelenski citate de Time] raises many questions. If you hold any position, if you think that our country cannot win, then you have no right to be close to our president,” accused Oleksiy Danilov.

At the same time, he referred to one of the sources cited by Time magazine, which explained that the Ukrainian president has become more radical regarding possible negotiations with Russia on a truce or a peace agreement.

“He is deceiving himself. I’ve run out of options. We won’t win. But try telling him that,” said the source, whom Time magazine describes as “one of Zelensky’s closest advisers.”

Danilov replied that “these anonymous briefings behind closed doors cause enormous damage, first of all to our country… I think that the authorities should give us an answer: who are these anonymous people who do not believe in our victory, but are close to the president.” ?”.

Danilov emphasized that during the war there is sensitive information and statements that are spread when people are “on a knife edge” and that they can be manipulated by the enemies of Ukraine.

Presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak also commented on the report published on Monday by Time magazine, noting that it reflects a “subjective point of view” on Ukraine and its president.

The most famous adviser to the Ukrainian president talks about a “subjective” article

Responding live on Radio Free Europe to a question about the general tone of the article, Podolyak denied that among the leadership of Ukraine there is a feeling of anger towards Ukraine’s partners or the idea that they “betrayed” Kyiv.

One Time source told the magazine that Zelensky returned to Kyiv “furious” after his latest visit to the United States, while another said he believed his Western allies had “betrayed” him because Ukraine was not getting the weapons it needed to win the war . , just to follow it up.

“Let’s not forget that this is the subjective view of a particular journalist who has his own view of what’s going on,” Podoliak said of the dark tone of Time’s reporting.

“Secondly, I never understand what anonymous sources are. When I talk to someone from the president’s office, I always say who I am… Sometimes these anonymous people are people who don’t have access to certain information, but they are there somewhere and want to raise their profile. And they present their opinions as axiomatic knowledge,” Mykhailo Podolyak noted.

Time magazine says the report it published on Monday is based on interviews with President Zelenskyi, members of his team and anonymous sources close to the Ukrainian president.

The text is signed by the well-known reporter Simon Schuster, who spent two weeks in Kyiv with the Ukrainian president in April last year, later publishing “Inside Zelenskyi’s World”, another major story about the first months after the start of the Russian invasion. .

“The worst thing is that part of the world is already used to the war in Ukraine. War fatigue comes in waves. You see it in the US, in Europe. And we see it immediately [occidentalii] they get a little tired, everything becomes like a series for them: “I can’t watch it for the tenth time,” Zelensky told Time.