Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky suggested that President Biden visit Ukraine because he is the “leader of the United States.” Zelensky’s comments came during an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper aired on Sunday.
When Tapper asked if Zelensky wants Biden to visit Ukraine, nearly two months after Russia first invaded the country, Zelensky replied yes. Tapper then asked if there are any plans for Biden to come to Ukraine and Zelensky said, “I think he will.”
“But it’s his decision of course and about the safety situation, it depends, but I think he’s the leader of the United States and that’s why he should come to see,” he added.
TAPPER: "Do you want President Biden to come here?"
ZELENSKY: "Yes."
TAPPER: Are there any plans for him to come?
ZELENSKY: "I think he will." #CNNSOTU pic.twitter.com/oTMk7e4Xd8
— State of the Union (@CNNSOTU) April 17, 2022
In another piece of the interview, which was conducted from the office of the president in Kyiv and aired on Friday, Zelensky suggested that “all of the countries of the world” should be prepared for a scenario in which Russian president Vladimir Putin uses tactical nuclear weapons in the war in Ukraine.
“Chemical weapons, they should do it, they could do it, for them the life of the people, nothing. That’s why,” Zelensky said. “We should think not be afraid, not be afraid but be ready. But that is not a question for Ukraine, not only for Ukraine but for all the world, I think.”
Zelensky’s comments came one day after CIA director Bill Burns said that the agency is watching “very intently” the possibility that Putin could turn to the use of tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine if backed into a corner, CNN reported. However, Burns said that the U.S. has not seen any signs that Russia is preparing to do so.
“Given the potential desperation of President Putin and the Russian leadership, given the setbacks that they’ve faced so far militarily, none of us can take lightly the threat posed by a potential resort to tactical nuclear weapons or low yield nuclear weapons,” Burns said in public remarks at Georgia Tech, according to the report.
Zelensky also told Tapper that Ukrainian officials believe about 2,500 to 3,000 Ukrainian troops have died in the war, while 10,000 Ukrainian troops have been injured. He added that it is “hard to say how many will survive.”
“It is very difficult to talk about civilians, since south of our country, where the towns and cities are blocked — Kherson, Berdyansk, Mariupol further east, and the area to the east where Volnovakha is — we just don’t know how many people have died in that area that is blocked,” Zelensky added.