President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has revealed that he urged the US to impose preemptive sanctions on Russia before the full-scale invasion, describing their threats of sanctions in the event of an attack as "bullshit".
Source: Zelenskyy in an interview with American podcaster Lex Fridman
Quote: "I asked only for one thing, primarily from the United States – if you are sure, if you have evidence, if you talk to him [Putin] and he tells you that there will be an invasion, if all this scares you. I only asked for two things: send us weapons, or better yet, strengthen us with preventive measures so there would be no war. It wasn't the weapons that I was asking for – I asked for sanctions. Intimidate him.
Please don't say ‘If he comes, if he crosses borders, if he kills, we're imposing sanctions.’ Well, this is complete bullshit. Sorry, but really."
Details: At this point, Fridman, who speaks Russian, noted that he had understood one particular word without translation. He also asked if Zelenskyy meant that Ukraine was not given help.
"I believe we didn’t. We didn’t receive help. If we assume that words are help, well, then yes, we received a lot of it, because there were plenty of words," the president responded.
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th3st on January 6th, 2025 at 02:01 UTC »
Crimea should have been taken more seriously. By everyone
LivingDracula on January 5th, 2025 at 23:52 UTC »
They still are. Putin is personally responsible for 3 shot down civilian planes, multiple other attempts and over 1 million dead or injured.
It is outrageous that this singular person is not being treated the same way an exiled saudi prince like Osama...
Osama was evil, but he's a saint compared to the size and scope of issues Putin causes on a monthly, weekly and daily basis across the world. Africa, check. Syria, check. Isreal, check, Hezbolla, check. The list goes on.
He has to go.
The UN must enforce a no fly, no ship zone around Russia and extend sanctions to violators. Treat Arming Russia with drone and electronics as the same equivalent as giving them uranium...
JKlerk on January 5th, 2025 at 22:26 UTC »
Domestic politics tend to heavily influence foreign politics. We should all remember that the Obama Administration was not actively campaigning to provide heavy weapons to Ukraine when Putin began to support the insurgency in Eastern Ukraine.
Trump, I may be wrong, also wasn't fully on board with the Ukraine train.
It should come to no surprise that the Biden administration along with Europe were recovering from COVID lockdowns so there probably was little appetite to cause more pain via NatGas sanctions.