What Did Zelenskyy Ask Biden Before the Invasion?

Volodymyr Zelenskyy asked President Biden to impose sanctions on Russia before any invasion. President Biden said sanctions would come only if Russia invaded, after the fact, not beforehand. Zelenskyy believes that wait was a mistake.

Zelenskyy asked the Americans for a clear signal. If they believed it was war, he wanted weapons urgently, everything they could give. Nobody would give anything. He then asked for sanctions, something everybody in Europe already knew about. He asked President Biden to impose sanctions on Russia now, preemptively. If Biden knew there could be an invasion, Zelenskyy wanted the sanctions first, so Russia would not go in if the decision to invade was real. President Biden said sanctions would be imposed if there was an invasion. They would be post factum, not preemptive sanctions. Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

Zelenskyy says he is not God to judge a president. In his view, waiting until after an invasion was a mistake.