At the beginning of March 2023, a wide resonance in the media space was caused by a statement attributed to Vladimir Zelensky that American youth would soon go to the front in Ukraine. We checked whether the Ukrainian leader said this.
In the first days of March, many Russian-language resources reported on the angry reaction of American society to the statement of Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky that “American sons and daughters will have to fight and die for Ukraine.” Some posts were accompanied by a 17-second video, in which Zelensky actually says: “The United States will have to send its sons and daughters just like we send our sons and daughters to war, and they will have to fight... and they will die...” This statement was often cited in the media along with words American congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene “There is not a single parent in the United States who wants the death of their child to protect Ukraine,” recognition video blogger Stu Peters about “official support for Putin” or replica “No way” by former US Assistant Secretary of the Treasury Monica Crowley. The quotes were accompanied by screenshots of relevant publications on social networks.
This information was disseminated "Arguments and facts", Lenta.ru, "360", EuroAsia Daily, "Moskovsky Komsomolets", "Military affairs", Belteleradiocompany, Deita and many other web resources. The news aroused great interest in Telegram, in particular in the channels “Pool N3"(467,000 views at the time of writing this analysis), Ne.Sugar (256,000) "Solovyov"(233,000), "Ostashko! Important" (127,000) and "Cat Kostyan"(98,000).
On February 24, 2023, a press conference was held in Kyiv by Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, timed to coincide with the anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Full video from the event is available at YouTube (including simultaneous translation into English language).
During a press conference with Zelensky appealed ABC TV channel correspondent with a question: “Mr. President, opinion polls in the United States show that an increasing number of Americans consider US support for Ukraine to be excessive (according to the Pew Research Center, from March 2022 to January 2023 their number increased from 7% to 26%. — Approx. ed.). On this anniversary, what would you like to say to those Americans?”
To this Zelensky replied: “I want to thank all Americans who support Ukraine - Congress, the president, television, journalists and all those who support us. To the percentage that, as you said, is growing, I can only say one thing to them: if they do not change their minds, if they do not understand us, if they do not support Ukraine, they will lose NATO, they will lose the influence of the United States, they will lose an absolutely fair leading position in the world and they will lose the support of a country with a population of 40 million, with millions of children. Are American children really different from ours? Don't Americans like the same things we do? Are we really that different? I'm sure not. I'm glad we have bipartisan support [in the US Congress], but sometimes we hear these messages. They are not safe. Why? Because some political leaders who raise such issues and are elected by the people on the ground must understand that people look up to them. These are their voters, they hear them. You can't be so careless. Who wants World War III? Do they really want to take that risk? America will never abandon NATO countries. And if it happens that Ukraine does not stand up because of this or that opinion, because of the weakening of this or that support, Russia will come to NATO countries. It will happen. They will come to the Baltic states (Zelensky used this very term. - Ed.), they will enter and seize the Baltic states. It will happen. And then the United States will send its sons and daughters, just as we send ours today, and they will fight because this is NATO. And they will die. God forbid, this is a terrible grief.”
Thus, Vladimir Zelensky did not say that “American sons and daughters will have to fight and die for Ukraine.” He expressed confidence that if we do not support Ukraine now (and support on the part of the United States is carried out in the financial, military and humanitarian spheres), then in the future the war will begin on the territory of NATO countries, which will lead to the direct involvement of the American army in hostilities. On the Internet, as evidence of the authenticity of the quote, a fragment is given (highlighted in bold text above), which, out of context, can be understood in two ways. And the reaction (usually genuine) of American political and public figures to Zelensky’s statement in some cases could have been caused by the fact that they had read an incomplete part of his response taken out of context.
Cover photo: video recording of Vladimir Zelensky's press conference
Distorted quote
Read on topic:
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- Is it true that an American TV channel showed Zelensky’s speech instead of recording the sounds of a black hole?
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