Fox News Contributor Breaks Down How Ukraine’s President Is Evading The Russian Mercenaries Hunting Him
Fox News contributor Dan Hoffman, a former CIA station chief, was asked on Fox News Friday how Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has managed to stay alive while being hunted by Russian mercenary forces.
Fox anchor Bill Hemmer began the segment, saying, “Ukrainian president target number ones. Dodged three assassination attempts once Russia invaded last week. Times of London reports a Russian-backed mercenary force is on the ground in the hunt for him.”
“The Wagner group. What do you know about them based on what they have done in the past?” Hemmer asked Hoffman.
“Wagner group established years ago, mercenaries, not directly attributable to the Kremlin, but they are financed by Yevgeny Prigozhin who runs that internet research agency that interfered in the U.S. elections and was disclosed by the Mueller investigation,” Hoffman explained.
“Gives Vladimir Putin a little bit of non-attribution even though we know he is running the show when it comes to these guys. Very active in the Middle East as well as North Africa and now they’re in Ukraine hunting for President Zelensky,” he added.
“How good are Zelensky’s people? It seems remarkable he was able to have a press conference yesterday and popped up on camera several times yesterday,” asked Dana Perino, co-host of America’s Newsroom.
“So, they are good. I have no doubt that Russia infiltrated Ukraine weeks maybe even months before their invasion with the Wagner group with Chechyan mercenaries to try to find Zelensky. What Zelensky’s team and his intelligence officers and security they’ve made keeping him alive their highest priority,” said Hoffman.
“They are able to detect the threats. Conducting human operations, sources are telling them where the threats are and they are preempting the threats before they materialize,” he continued.
“I can’t highlight enough why Zelensky is a target for Vladimir Putin. He wants to decapitate the government and install Russia’s own puppet. He knows Zelensky is mobilizing international support roughly 15 billion dollars worth of that making its way to Ukraine right now and secondly, Vladimir Putin is trying to own the information space,” Hoffman explained, adding, “Truth, as we know, is the first casualty of war.”
“Zelensky is out there on social media calling it as it is while Vladimir Putin is trying to lie his way out of all the atrocities his army is committing in Ukraine,” concluded Hoffman.
Watch the full clip above, via Fox News
