(Reuters) – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy told the Washington Post in an interview published on Tuesday that the White House did not inform him about a leak of secret U.S. documents that grabbed attention around the world last month.
“I did not receive information from the White House or the Pentagon beforehand,” Zelenskiy was quoted as saying.
“It is unprofitable for us,” he added. “It is not beneficial to the reputation of the White House, and I believe it is not beneficial to the reputation of the United States.”
The materials posted online offered a partial, month-old snapshot of the war in Ukraine.
Ukraine’s defense minister, Oleksii Reznikov, said on April 12 the Pentagon document leaks contained a mixture of true and false information about his country’s military and downplayed its negative impact.
In response to Zelenskiy’s comments, a spokesperson for the White House National Security Council said: “We are in constant communication with our Ukrainian counterparts about a range of issues, including over the unauthorized disclosures, but we aren’t going to get into the details of those private discussions.”
A Pentagon spokesperson said U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had spoken to a number of allies, including Reznikov, regarding the issue.
“Austin has conducted a large number of phone calls, conducted a large amount of outreach to our allies and partners around the world to discuss the matter with them, to highlight how seriously we are taking this issue, to include several conversations with his Ukrainian counterpart, minister Reznikov,” Patrick Ryder told CNN.
(Reporting by Costas Pitas in Los Angeles and Eric Beech in Washington; Additional reporting by Steve Holland in Washington; Editing by Chris Reese and Matthew Lewis)
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