By Le Figaro
Posted 3 hours ago, updated 2 hours ago
The CIA director had visited Kyiv before the war. Kevin Dietsch/GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/Getty Images via AFP
In particular, the head of the American secret service, William Burns, presented the Ukrainian president with his observations on the possible future military strategies of Russia.
CIA director William Burns, who has been in office since spring 2021, recently secretly traveled to the Ukrainian capital to meet with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, a US official told Portal on Thursday.
“Director William Burns traveled to Kyiv, where he met with Ukrainian intelligence officials and President Zelenskyy and reiterated our continued support for Ukraine in defending itself against Russian aggression,” the official said anonymously.
Also read William Burns, a diplomat at the head of the CIA
However, the source in question did not specify exactly when the meeting took place. The Washington Post, which also repeated the meeting, specified that the visit by the director of American intelligence took place at the end of last week. In particular, William Burns informed the Ukrainian President about his analyzes of possible future military strategies of Russia. He would have admitted to Volodymyr Zelenskyy, again according to the American daily, that depending on the American political context, receiving American aid might be less obvious. The Republican victory in the House of Representatives in the midterm elections would have spelled it out.
In Kyiv before the war
The CIA director had visited Kyiv before the war, The Independent newspaper reported, citing a forthcoming book by White House author Chris Whipple. At that time, William Burns had begun to warn the Ukrainian president of Russian plans to assassinate him.
Since the beginning of the Russian invasion on February 24, the director of the CIA has sometimes intervened in public to relay certain observations made by American intelligence. Putin’s nuclear threat “must not be taken lightly,” he said, notably in April, but asserted that he had “not seen any concrete indications, such as deployments or military action, that could heighten our concerns.”
SEE ALSO – “We will support Ukraine as long as necessary,” assures the US Secretary of Defense