Bill Burns reportedly warned Ukraine\u2019s President Vladimir Zelensky that he might be assassinated
\nCIA chief Bill Burns reportedly made a secret visit to Ukraine in January 2022, a month before Russia\u2019s offensive against Kiev started, and told President Vladimir Zelensky that Moscow was plotting to assassinate him.
\nThe clandestine meeting between Burns and Zelensky came to light in a soon-to-be-released book by author Chris Whipple on Joe Biden\u2019s presidency,\u00a0Business Insider\u00a0reported on Monday. The trip came at a time when the Ukrainian president was publicly dismissive of US claims that Russia was poised to attack Kiev and was arguing that the warnings were creating\u00a0\u201cpanic.\u201d
\n\u201cBurns had come to give him a reality check,\u201d\u00a0Whipple wrote in his book,\u00a0\u2018The Fight of His Life: Inside Joe Biden\u2019s White House\u2019. Biden had instructed the\u00a0US spy chief to\u00a0\u201cshare precise details of the Russian plots.\u201d
\nWhile Zelensky had been reluctant to believe US intelligence assessments of a likely Russian offensive, he was immediately\u00a0\u201csobered\u201d\u00a0and\u00a0\u201ctaken aback\u201d\u00a0by the claim that he personally might be targeted. As it turned out, the assassination claim was apparently false, inasmuch as there have been no confirmed Russian attempts to kill Zelensky. Russian forces presumably had ample opportunities to take shots at the Ukrainian leader, especially as he ventured out of hiding increasingly, visiting such locales as Bucha and the front-line city of Bakhmut.
\nWhipple claimed that US intelligence was so detailed that it helped Ukrainian security forces foil two Russian attempts to assassinate Zelensky. Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov denied media reports in April that Moscow wanted the Ukrainian president dead, adding that regime change wasn\u2019t among the goals of Russia\u2019s military operation.
\nBurns, who served as US ambassador to Russia from 2005 to 2008,\u00a0also provided Zelensky with details of the plans for Russia\u2019s military offensive, according to Whipple\u2019s book. The author didn\u2019t identify his sources, saying his interviews were done on condition of anonymity.
\nWhile Biden\u2019s administration has tried to take credit for its warnings about the conflict, US intelligence agencies haven\u2019t been altogether accurate in their Ukraine assessments. For example, they reportedly told the White House that Russia would overwhelm and defeat Ukrainian forces within a few days. The CIA\u2019s plan was to support an insurgency against Russian occupiers.<\/p>\n