Photo: Screenshot from the video
In the clip from the video, which is incorrectly interpreted in the post, Podolyak is talking about a hypothetical situation if EU would stop helping Ukraine and he is explaining what would happen in Europe should the assistance in weapons cease. He, however, is not saying that Ukraine will undertake terrorist attacks in Europe, but stresses that there would be genocide in Ukraine, that the entire security in the EU would be devastated, the democratic process would be impossible to control and terrorist attacks would be expected, writes Truthmeter.mk.
Under the content-sharing agreement between Truthmeter.mk and Meta.mk, we republish the text below:
We are fact-checking a post published on the social network Facebook (screenshot here) saying:
It’s not the man, it’s the dose.
Now the Ukrainian Government is threatening to start terrorist attacks throughout Europe if the European Union stops sending weapons to Ukraine
(M. Podolyak, Zelenskyy’s Adviser).
The shared video is an interview for a TV station of Mykhailo Podolyak, Adviser to the Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy. In the clip of the video – which is interpreted incorrectly in the post – Podolyak is saying:
Mr. Borrell can say “We will stop sending weapons to Ukraine”. However, that would mean genocide in Ukraine, and war would start in other countries. The number of terrorist attacks in Europe would significantly increase. In general, that would mean that in Europe it would no longer be comfortable to sit in cafes and eat croissants, nor manage political processes. Weapon supply must continue…
He is not talking about terrorist attacks undertaken by Ukraine in Europe if the supply of weapons were to stop, but he is talking about a general increase of terrorist attacks as a consequence of the lost war in Ukraine that would encourage all those who wish to harm Europe by means of terrorism. The entire context of the interview concerned is in line with the narratives that official Kyiv previously put on the table in international dialogues – that Ukraine needed help with weapons so that Russia would not start threatening and attacking EU and NATO Member-States, i.e., to prevent spillover in Europe. From the very beginning of the military invasion of the Russian Federation of Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been pointing out that Ukraine is the “shield of Europe”. At the press-conference after one year of the Russian military invasion of Ukraine, ABC News reporter asked Zelenskyy what would he say to the Americans who think that America is giving too much assistance to Ukraine. Zelenskyy is hypothetically talking about what would happen if Ukraine loses the war:
The US is never going to give up on the NATO Member-States. If it happens so that Ukraine, due to various opinions and weakening, depleting of assistance, loses, Russia is going to enter Baltic States, NATO Member-States and then the US will have to send their sons and daughters exactly the same way as we are sending their sons and daughters to war. And they will have to fight. Because it’s NATO that we are talking about and they will be dying, God forbid, because it’s a horrible thing, said Zelenskyy (approximately 1 hour and 40 minutes of the video).
Podolyak’s narrative in the video of the post we are fact-checking is similar. Mykhailo Podolyak, an Adviser to President Zelenskyy, is not blackmailing Europe or the European Union with some kind of terrorist attacks should EU stop supplying weapons to Ukraine, as incorrectly claimed in the post. He is talking about what could happen under such circumstance – that in Ukraine, according to him, there will be genocide, and in Europe more frequent terrorist attacks and life would not be easygoing, and the political processes in Europe would be impossible to control.
As reported by the fact-checkers of Disinfo Detector, Podolyak is not blackmailing the West with terrorist attacks. In the interview provided to Television Rada on 10th May 2023, he says that Russia continues to be a security threat for the entire democractic world and that if the countries in Europe cease to supply weapons to Ukraine, that could lead to further aggression against the Unkrainians and increase the intensity of the war in the neighbouring countries, but also increase the number of terrorist attacks in Europe. Podolyak commented on the words of Josep Borrell. As specified by Disinfo Detector, he noted that Borrell, absolutely sincerely, believes in the victory of Ukraine and does all that he can to help. He added that ”it is simply not necessary to say that Ukraine could become a puppet-state if the West stops helping”. According to Podolyak, this is impossible, because under any scenario ”a third of the population of Ukraine will be destroyed” and ”genocide will be committed”.
He is talking about a hypothetical situation if the EU would stop helping Ukraine and he is explaining what would happen in Europe should the assistance in weapons cease. He, however, is not saying that Ukraine will undertake terrorist attacks in Europe, but stresses that there would be genocide in Ukraine, that the entire security in the EU would be devastated, the democratic processes would be impossible to control and terrorist attacks would be expected.
Due to all above-noted facts, we assess the post fact-checked as untrue.