Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office denied Thursday that the Ukrainian president had agreed to a sit-down interview with American right-wing pundit Tucker Carlson.
“The President of Ukraine has a completely different schedule, and Tucker Carlson is not on it,” presidential spokesperson Sergii Nykyforov said Thursday morning, while casting doubt on Carlson’s Ukrainian sources.
The Ukrainian denial came after Carlson said Wednesday night that he might have landed a chat with Zelenskyy. “Looks like we’ve got the Zelenskyy interview,” he announced on social media.
“We’ve been trying for two years, and with particular intensity after interviewing Putin in February,” Carlson said. “The point is to bring Americans much-needed information about the conflict that’s completely reshaping their country’s position in the world. Coming soon we hope.”
In February, Carlson — a former Fox News host who left the network amid swirling controversy in 2023 — published a two-hour long interview with Russian President Vladimir Putin, during which Putin delivered a lengthy monologue about Russian history and mocked Carlson over his failed attempt to join CIA.
One week later, Putin revealed on Russian state TV that he “didn’t get complete satisfaction” from the interview as he expected tougher questions from the journalist.
Ukraine has been attempting to fend off Putin’s full-scale invasion for more than two years now, and Carlson’s commentary on the conflict has sometimes mirrored Kremlin talking points.