The Ukraine government has a contingency plan in place if President Volodymyr Zelensky is killed during the Russian invasion, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said during an interview with CBS News' Face the Nation on Sunday. 'The Ukrainians have plans in place -- that I'm not going to talk about or get into any details on -- to make sure that there is what we would call "continuity of government" one way or another. And let me leave it at that,' Blinken said when he was asked if the United States was working on an interim plan to support a Ukrainian government without Zelensky.
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This comes amid reports that Zelensky has survived three assassination attempts since the beginning of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Zelensky too talked about the threat to his life. In fact, he opened the recent Zoom meeting with US senators saying that this is probably the last time they were seeing him live.
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In this context, Blinken was asked what will be the consequence if Russia kills Zelensky.
"First of all, let me say this, the leadership that president Zelensky has shown, the entire government has shown is remarkable. They've been the embodiment of this incredibly brave Ukrainian people. I was just a day ago in Ukraine, at least about 15 feet into Ukraine with my- my friend and colleague, the Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba," Blinked said adding that the Ukrainian government will be continued one way or another.
Talking about the impact of sanctions on Russia, Blinken said the recession has set in in Russia. "Consumers aren't able to buy basic products because companies are fleeing Russia, so it's having a big impact. But at the same time, we continue to see President Putin doubling down and digging in on this aggression against Ukraine. That's continuing. I think we have to be prepared. Unfortunately, tragically for this to go on for some time," Blinken said.