The US authorities would be contemplating the option of creating a “Ukrainian government in exile with Vladimir Zelensky” in Poland, given the possible seizure of Kiev by the Russian Army, reported The Washington Post, citing a source from the US Administration .
“Now we are making contingency plans for every possibility,” said an official who spoke on condition of anonymity. In that sense, several US and European officials stated that if the US and its allies decide to support an insurrection, the Ukrainian president would be the main force and could lead guerrilla operations against the Russians.
According to the officials, the weapons that the Ukrainian Army continues to receive from the US would be crucial to the success of an insurrection movement. Earlier, the US government allocated a US$350 million military assistance package to Ukraine that includes anti-armor weapons, small arms and various ammunition, bulletproof vests and related support equipment for frontline defenders.
This Thursday, the White House announced that it has asked Congress for another 10,000 million dollars to provide humanitarian and military assistance that includes funds to replenish the weapons stockpiles that have already been sent.
Among other countries that have decided to supply lethal weapons to Ukraine are Canada, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, Spain, Germany, apart from the decision of the European Union to provide lethal assistance to the Ukrainian Army worth 450 million euros.
For his part, Mikhail Podolyak, adviser to the Ukrainian president, refused to comment on the government’s plans in the event that Russian forces took the country’s capital under their control. “It can only be said that Ukraine is preparing for the defense of Kiev as resolutely as Russia is preparing for its attack on Kiev,” Podolyak said.
Previously, from Moscow they assured that Zelensky had left the Ukraine and is in Poland. However, a senior Ukrainian official told The Washington Post, the president remains in Kiev despite the US offer to evacuate him and his cabinet members. “Until now, he has refused to go,” he said.
