Time's Simon Shuster tells Ukrainska Pravda his anonymous sources are current advisers to President Zelenskyy

Ukrainska Pravda
·2 min read
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Journalist Simon Shuster has said that he spoke only with current advisers of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for his controversial article in Time magazine.

Source: Shuster, speaking to Ukrainska Pravda

Quote: "What it says in the text, if you read it carefully, it does not say ‘former advisers, aides or staffers’ to President Zelenskyy’. We are talking about [current - ed.] aides, staffers and advisers to President Zelenskyy. The word ‘former’ does not appear anywhere there.

Oleksii Arestovych has not worked for the Office of the President since the spring or summer of 2022. That is the last time I spoke to him."

Details: Shuster believes that people wanted to speak anonymously to draw attention to problems without putting themselves at risk. He also noted that he spent about three weeks in Kyiv, meeting with a large number of people to discuss various issues. One of the topics Shuster plans to write about next is the difficulties of the counteroffensive and the need for a technological breakthrough for Ukraine. Valerii Zaluzhnyi, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, has already written about this in a column for The Economist.

The journalist also noted that he did not expect this kind of public reaction to his article, and the controversy has surprised him.

Background:

  • The American magazine Time published an article on the problems faced by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during the war, ranging from the situation at the front and international support, to the fight against corruption.

  • Citing members of the president's inner circle, Simon Shuster, the article’s author, noted that Zelenskyy feels "angry" after his last visit to the US.

  • It was said Zelenskyy no longer has "the usual sparkle of his optimism, his sense of humour, his tendency to liven up a meeting in the war room with a bit of banter or a bawdy joke" in the second year of the war.

  • Shuster wrote that some people from Zelenskyy's circle are convinced that the president "deludes himself". "We’re out of options. We’re not winning. But try telling him that," an unnamed representative told the journalist.

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