Predictably, Russian media also targeted Ukraine’s president, whom they accused of a conspiracy to drag the United States deeper into conflict.
“The main beneficiary of this commotion on a global scale is [Volodymyr] Zelenskyy,” wrote the pro-Kremlin tabloid Moskovsky Komsomolets.
Only U.S. President Donald Trump was spared a thorough excoriation, with journalists praising him for what they deemed his measured reaction, because he refrained from immediately denouncing Russia after the drone incursion into Poland.
Alexei Zhuravlev, a guest on “60 minutes,” summarized the state of play : “We [Russians] are calmly advancing, Europe continues to act aggressively, and Trump remains the usual: either waiting to talk to Putin, talking to Putin, or saying how well the conversation with Putin went.”
“All of Europe is squealing,” Zhuravlev, who serves as deputy chairman of the State Duma’s Defense Committee, continued. “Some drones flew in, who knows from where … they presented no threat whatsoever, but they are squealing.”
Even as they painted Europe as out-of-control, however, state media personalities simultaneously sought to downplay the danger.