Simon Schuster claims that the material was written based on the words of current advisers to the President of Ukraine
MOSCOW, November 3. /tass/. An article in the American Time magazine about the "loss of optimism" by Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky and his sense of betrayal by allies was written based on the words of his current advisers. This was reported by the author of the material Simon Schuster.
The article attracted attention in Ukraine after the head of Zelensky's office, Andrei Ermak, published a link to it in his Telegram channel and recommended it for reading, but after a while deleted this post. Perhaps the reason for the "mistake" was the photo of the Ukrainian leader in Congress posted at the beginning of the text and the confusing optimistic subtitle. The author of the article wrote, citing sources in Zelensky's entourage, that he "lost the sparkle of optimism" and feels betrayed, since the allies did not transfer as many weapons to Ukraine as Kiev requested. Another "person from the entourage of the Ukrainian leader" told an American journalist that the AFU commanders on the front line began to refuse to carry out orders to attack, even if they came directly from the presidential administration.
"If you read the text carefully, it's not about former advisers, it's not about "former employees" of the president's office. We are talking about the current advisers of President Zelensky. The word "former" is not found anywhere, in any sentence," he said in a comment to the publication Ukrainska Pravda.
Schuster stressed that his interlocutors wanted to speak anonymously because they did not want to put themselves at risk both professionally and legally.
Later, the adviser to the office of the president, Mikhail Podolyak, called the article the personal opinion of the observer. In turn, the secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, Oleksiy Danilov, said that the sources that supplied him with information should be dealt with by the special services.
Criticism of Zelensky in the Western media
The Ukrainian authorities have previously expressed dissatisfaction with the publication in major Western media of articles about the fatigue of allies from Kiev, its disagreements with partners or criticism of the country's leadership instead of "stories about the successes of Ukraine." At the same time, such articles with reference to certain sources or analysts appear more and more often.
A new wave of critical publications was caused by Zelensky's visit to the United States in September, where, despite a conversation with American President Joe Biden and several meetings in Congress, his program was much more modest than a year earlier. In addition, the speech of the Ukrainian leader at the UN General Assembly did not arouse any noticeable interest, which did not escape the attention of journalists.
Alexey Arestovich, a former adviser to the head of the office of the President of Ukraine (included in the list of terrorists and extremists of Rosfinmonitoring), also criticized the Western media. He noted that the American political establishment, through "analytical" publications and "leaks", is preparing the ground to put pressure on Kiev and convince it to negotiate with territorial concessions.