CIA director warned Zelensky of assassination threat at secret meeting before Russia invasion, book claims
Author Chris Whipple revealed the warning in his forthcoming book “The Fight of His Life: Inside Joe Biden’s White House”
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.The director of the Central Intelligence Agency travelled to Kyiv before the start of Russia’s war on Ukraine in order to inform Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky of a Russian plan to assassinate him.
In his forthcoming book, The Fight of His Life: Inside Joe Biden's White House, author Chris Whipple reports that at the same time Mr Zelensky was publicly dismissive of warnings from US officials that Moscow would soon launch the largest land invasion since the end of the Second World War, he was getting a clandestine briefing from CIA Director Bill Burns about the threat on his life.
Mr Zelensky’s attitude towards the US warnings, which were quite unusual because American officials rarely share intelligence publicly in the way the Biden administration began routinely disclosing Russian plans to reporters and foreign governments, was to push back on them and suggest the US was risking panic and negative effects on the Ukrainian economy.
But in a copy of his book obtained by The Independent, Mr Whipple said Mr Burns went to Kyiv “to give him a reality check”.
He said Mr Biden tasked the CIA director — a former US Ambassador to Russia — with providing Mr Zelensky with “precise details of the Russian plots”.
"This immediately got Zelensky's attention; he was taken aback, sobered by this news,” he wrote.
Ukrainian officials say Mr Zelensky has survived more than 12 separate attempts on his life by Russian forces since the war began last February.
According to Mr Whipple, at least two of those success stories were thanks to US intelligence shared by Mr Burns during that visit to Kyiv.
"The intelligence was so detailed that it would help Zelensky's security forces thwart two separate Russian attempts on his life," he wrote.
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments