CIA director visits Kyiv and meets with Ukraine’s Zelensky
WASHINGTON — CIA Director William Burns visited Kyiv last week to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, a U.S. official said Thursday, in the latest example of high-level contacts between the U.S. and Ukraine.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the director’s classified schedule, said Burns emphasized Washington’s “continued support for Ukraine” in the war. Burns also met with Ukrainian intelligence officials.
The CIA director has briefed Zelensky repeatedly before and since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine in February, passing on U.S. intelligence findings about Moscow’s war plans and intentions.
The war by Russian President Vladimir Putin is soon to enter its second year having resulted in tens of thousands of deaths and with no clear resolution on the horizon. Washington is about to send an additional $2.5 billion in aid to Ukraine, including for the first time Stryker armored vehicles.
Burns’ meeting with Zelensky was first reported by the Washington Post.
The CIA director told “PBS NewsHour” last month that agency analysts predicted “a reduced tempo and fighting between the two militaries as winter sets in.”
Germany faces mounting pressure to supply battle tanks to Ukraine as Western allies confer on how best to support Kyiv nearly 11 months into the war.
“I don’t underestimate for a moment the burdens, the challenges, that this war poses for Ukrainians first and foremost, but for all of us who support Ukraine,” said Burns, a former U.S. ambassador to Moscow. “But strategically, I think, in many ways, you know, Putin’s war has thus far been a failure for Russia.”
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