CIA director visited Kyiv for meeting with Zelensky

WASHINGTON – CIA Director William Burns travelled to Kyiv last week for secret consultations with President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine, according to two US officials.

Since just before the invasion, Mr Burns has made periodic visits to Ukraine to meet with intelligence officials and to convey information to Mr Zelensky.

Mr Burns, whose trip was confirmed by US officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because of security concerns, is just the latest high-level US official to visit Ukraine.

On Monday, a delegation including Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman; Mr Jon Finer, the principal deputy national security adviser; and Mr Colin Kahl, the undersecretary of defence for policy, met with Mr Zelensky.

The CIA attempts to keep Mr Burns’ travels secret, and the agency never comments on the topic. But one US official acknowledged Mr Burns’ visit and said it was meant to “reinforce our continued support for Ukraine and its defence against Russian aggression.”

The visit was earlier reported by The Washington Post.

A second US official said Mr Burns’ visit was an intelligence mission designed “to ensure that information continues to flow both ways.”

The US government has periodically complained that they know more about Russian military movements and plans than Ukraine’s.

Kyiv has often been tight-lipped about its operational plans. But before Ukraine’s September counter-offensive, its officials began to share more about their intentions, allowing the US to provide intelligence that helped Kyiv’s military reshape its plans to target weak points in Russian lines.

Mr Burns, a career diplomat, emerged early in the Biden administration as an emergency envoy and problem solver for the White House.

And the intelligence relationship between Washington and Kyiv has been vital to the war effort. Ukraine is heavily dependent on insights from the CIA and other intelligence agencies on Russian planning.

Shortly before the invasion, Mr Burns travelled to Ukraine to warn Mr Zelensky and urge him to shore up defences around Kyiv. The intelligence provided on that trip helped Ukraine fend off the initial attack by elite Russian airborne troops on Hostomel Airport, north of Kyiv.

On the latest trip, Mr Burns also met with senior Ukrainian intelligence officials, although US officials would not discuss the nature of those discussions.

The visit comes at a crucial point in the war. Ukraine is pushing for more heavy Western weapons, the Russian military has changed its general in command, and the war has ground into a stalemate over the winter, outside of the fighting in and around Bakhmut. NYTIMES