Washington (CNN)Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stays a "prime goal for Russian aggression," US State Department spokesperson Ned Price stated Thursday night amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Speaking with CNN's Wolf Blitzer on "The Situation Room," Price stated Zelensky "does, in many ways, signify -- even personify -- the democratic aspirations and ambitions of Ukraine -- of the Ukrainian people."
"So of course, he would stay a high goal for Russian aggression," he said.
The Ukrainian President and his crew "are going to make choices in the coming hours, in the coming days, primarily based on what's in the exceptional pastime of them, what's in the first-class hobby of Ukrainian people, what's in the quality pastime of the Ukrainian state," Price added.
Russia had launched an invasion of Ukraine previously Thursday, sending troops into the ex-Soviet country from three fronts and firing missiles on countless areas close to the capital, Kyiv, in a vast assault that has drawn deep condemnation from world leaders.
At dawn, troops and armor crossed into japanese Ukraine from the Russian border, as properly as from Belarus in the north and from Russia-annexed Crimea to the south. In a video assertion late Thursday, Zelensky said, "According to our information, the enemy marked me as goal No. 1, my household as goal No. two They prefer to wreck Ukraine politically through destroying the head of state. We have records that enemy sabotage companies have entered Kyiv."
"I am staying in the authorities quarter collectively with others," he added.
Asked about Zelensky's comments, Price mentioned that "several weeks in the past we made the factor that Russian dealers had already infiltrated Ukraine; they had been running interior the country."
"I'm now not in the role to inform you proper now exactly the place they are, however we recognize that the Russian authorities orchestrated this and has been working on this for weeks now," Price said. "This is phase of their playbook, simply as we have considered different factors of their playbook play out simply as we warned."
Price stated he wished the US authorities had been incorrect about what it had stated it predicted Russia to do, "but unfortunately, our facts has been confirmed right at each and every turn."
"That is why we have deep difficulty about what it is that we can also see the Russian Federation strive to do in the coming hours, in the coming days," he said.
In an interview on ABC News taped earlier than Zelensky's statement, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated he used to be "convinced" that Russian President Vladimir Putin would strive to overthrow Ukraine's government.
Blinken additionally stated in a separate interview on "CBS Evening News" that it is clear Putin has ambitions past Ukraine. "You do not want Genius to inform you that it's precisely what President Putin wants. He has made clear he'd like to reconstitute the Soviet Empire. Short of that, he'd like to reassert a sphere of affect round the neighboring nations that had been as soon as phase of the Soviet bloc," he instructed the outlet.
The pinnacle US diplomat, however, maintained that NATO would stand in the way of Putin's last goals:
"Now, when it comes to a risk past Ukraine's borders, there may be some thing very effective standing in his way. That's Article 5 of NATO: An assault on one is an assault on all."
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