Biden: Zelenskyy didn't want to hear US info
Los Angeles: President Joe Biden, speaking to donors at a Democratic fundraiser here, said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy didn't want to hear it when U.S. intelligence gathered information that Russia was preparing to invade.
The remarks came as Biden was talking about his work to rally and solidify support for Ukraine as the war continues into its fourth month.
Nothing like this has happened since World War II. I know a lot of people thought I was maybe exaggerating. But I knew we had data to sustain he meaning Russian President Vladimir Putin was going to go in, off the border.
There was no doubt, Biden said. And Zelenskyy didn't want to hear it.
Although Zelenskyy has inspired people with his leadership during the war, his preparation for the invasion or lack thereof has remained a controversial issue.
In the weeks before the war began on Feb. 24, Zelenskyy publicly bristled as Biden administration officials repeatedly warned that a Russian invasion was highly likely.
At the time, Zelenskyy was also concerned on the time that the drumbeat of war was unsettling Ukraine's fragile economy.
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KEY DEVELOPMENTS IN THE RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR:
Ukraine fears a long war might cause West to lose interest
Ukraine: Drivers risk all to bring aid, help civilians flee
Ukraine: 100-200 soldiers die daily, new plea for heavy guns
Ukraine soccer club Shakhtar survives into 9th year of exile
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Follow AP's coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
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OTHER DEVELOPMENTS:
MOSCOW The head of Russia's central bank says it's impossible to draw conclusions on the impact of Western sanctions at this stage.
So far, the effects of the sanctions are less acute than we feared. This also shows the ability of companies to adapt. But it is premature to say that the full effect of the sanctions has manifested itself, Elvira Nabiullina, chair of the Central Bank of Russia, said at a briefing, at which she also announced the lowering of interest rates to their prewar levels.
The situation is uncertain, the situation is developing and the situation of the structural restructuring of our economy, of its capacity to rebuild, is also a process, so it's premature to draw any conclusions here, Nabiullina said.
She also said Moscow was preparing a possible legal challenge against E.U. sanctions against Russia's central securities depository and measures freezing the settlement of ruble transactions by its E.U.-based counterparts. She did not provide details, but admitted such a challenge would not be easy.
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DONETSK, Ukraine Hundreds of people continue to flee intense fighting in eastern Ukraine as Russian and Ukrainian forces battle for control of key cities and villages in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions.
Dozens of Ukrainians left the city of Pokrovks Friday on a special evacuation train heading for Dnipro and other cities further west.
The train carried about 300 people mostly women, children, and the elderly who were forced to leave as the fighting neared their homes.
Svitlana Kaplun said her entire family decided to leave when the shelling reached their neighborhood in the city of Krasnohorivka, about 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the city of Donetsk under the control of pro-Russian separatist forces.
We live on the frontline now. The kids are worried all the time, they are afraid to sleep at night, so we decided to take them out, she told AP.
Most of the evacuees are from areas where Russian forces are concentrating their offensive to capture the whole Donbas: The cities of Sievierodonetsk, Sloviansk, Bakhmut, and Popasna.
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KYIV, Ukraine The Ukrainian foreign minister says he and Britain's defense secretary have discussed the plight of the three foreign fighters sentenced to death by pro-Russian separatists.
Dmytro Kuleba wrote on Twitter that he and Liz Truss strongly condemned the sham trial against prisoners of war in Russian-occupied Donetsk during a telephone conversation Friday.
Kuleba says As combatants, they are protected by international humanitarian law and must be treated accordingly. We keep working together to ensure their release.
His remarks referenced separatist claims that the two British and one Moroccan man were mercenaries rather than combatants protected by international conventions. Ukrainian officials, as well as the fighters' families, have repeatedly stressed that all three were regular members of the Ukrainian army.
Kuleba said he and Truss discussed ways to ratchet up pressure on Moscow and hinted that the UK is planning to impose a fresh round of sanctions on Russia.
I look forward to the next round of UK sanctions. We both agreed that no one in the world has a right to get weary of this war until Ukraine prevails, he said.
