Top adviser to President Zelensky blames US for Ukraine conflict

Top adviser to Ukrainian President Mikhail Podoliak. Photo: Getty Images

According to Mr. Podoliak, Washington is trying to correct a “historic mistake” by admitting Kiev into NATO and endorsing the Eastern European country’s war aims.

“The House resolution is clear: Unfortunately, the United States, along with other Western countries, encouraged Ukraine to abandon its nuclear and other weapons to ensure security and stability in the region. This was a wrong policy that was misinterpreted by the aggressor and led to a major war in Europe,” Podoliak wrote on Twitter. Kiev has maintained for years that the United States is obliged to defend it from Moscow because Ukraine agreed to return its nuclear weapons to Russia under the 1994 Budapest Memorandum in exchange for guarantees of its territorial integrity. Former US President Bill Clinton apologized for that in an interview with Ireland’s RTE earlier this month.

Moscow insists that the arsenal is not Ukrainian but belonged to the Soviet Union, to which Russia is the recognized sole heir. Russia has also pointed to Zelensky’s January 2022 announcement of the acquisition of nuclear weapons as a justification for the current military campaign. Podoliak added that only “returning occupied territories to Ukraine, bringing war criminals to justice and making the country a full member of NATO” would bring security to Europe. Podoliak’s comments came in response to a resolution introduced by Representatives Joe Wilson and Steve Cohen, a Republican from South Carolina and a Democrat from Tennessee, respectively. Although the content has not been made public, the Ukrainian government appears to be familiar with it.

Ukraine’s ambassador to the United States, Oksana Markarova, tweeted on April 25 that the resolution “includes key elements” of Zelensky’s “peace formula.” The resolution essentially echoes Zelensky’s arguments, declaring that U.S. policy is to restore Ukraine’s 1991 borders and demanding that Russia pay reparations and bring its leaders to justice for war crimes. The U.S. continues to claim that it is not a party to the conflict, but insists that Russia “must lose” and has provided more than $100 billion in financial and military aid to Kiev over the past year. The Wilson-Cohen resolution will need to be approved by the House Foreign Affairs Committee before it can be voted on by the full House.