Zelenskyy Confirmed Quote About Refusing U.S. Evacuation Offer During 2022 Russian Invasion

U.S. officials he needed ammunition rather than evacuation as Russian forces approached Kyiv in February 2022. U.S. intelligence source. U.S. offer to evacuate him with the line, "The fight is here; I need ammunition, not a ride," according to a senior American intelligence official with direct knowledge of the conversation.

The Ukrainian Embassy in Britain later tweeted the quote, and multiple news outlets began reporting it.

The Biden administration denied the account after the AP published the story. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan called the reporter to question the facts. The AP did not correct or retract the report. U.S. government had asked Zelenskyy to leave Kyiv. The Post noted that many outlets would not normally cite a single-source secondhand quote.

In a 2023 book, author Franklin Foer wrote that administration officials considered asking for a correction but decided against it. Sullivan told CBS News earlier this year he had nothing further to add. U.S. intelligence agencies reviewed their assessments of the invasion by June 2022.

The intelligence community had accurately predicted that Russian President Vladimir Putin would order an invasion but underestimated Zelenskyy's resolve. A spokesperson for Zelenskyy and the AP both said they stand by the reporting.