(Reuters) – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Thursday told government officials to stop talking to reporters about Kyiv’s military tactics against Russia, saying such remarks were “frankly irresponsible”.
In the wake of major blasts that wrecked a Russian air base in Crimea on Tuesday, the New York Times and Washington Post newspapers cited unidentified officials as saying Ukrainian forces were responsible. The government in Kyiv, on the other hand, declined to say whether it had been behind the explosions.
“War is definitely not the time for vanity and loud statements. The fewer details you divulge about our defence plans, the better it will be for the implementation of those defence plans,” Zelenskiy said in an evening address.
“If you want to generate loud headlines, that’s one thing – it’s frankly irresponsible. If you want victory for Ukraine, that is another thing, and you should be aware of your responsibility for every word you say about our state’s plans for defence or counter attacks.”
Zelenskiy addressed his remarks to state, local and military officials as well as other people he said were commenting on events at the front.
Pictures released by independent satellite firm Planet Labs showed three near-identical craters where buildings at the air base had been struck. The burnt-out husks of at least eight destroyed warplanes were clearly visible.
(Reporting by David Ljunggren and Ronald Popeski; editing by Grant McCool)
