The Office of the President of Ukraine edited the video of a conversation between President Zelensky and US Senator Lindsey Graham. In the edited version of the video, Graham appears to be gloating over the deaths of Russian people in the conflict with Ukraine. In particular, Graham supposedly said that he was very happy about USA's investments in the elimination of the Russians.
In the edited version of the video, it was unclear that the US politician said phrases about Washington's investments and dying Russians in different parts of the conversation with Zelensky.
In the full version of the video, which Zelensky's administration handed over to Reuters, Graham said that the Ukrainians now live according to "Live free or die" motto. "And the Russians are dying,” he added.
Graham's "best money we've ever spent" remark referred to $38 billion in military aid that Washington has transferred to Ukraine since February 2022.
However, the video that originally appeared on the net made many believe that Lindsey Graham, during a meeting with Ukrainian President Zelensky, was happy about USA's investment in the elimination of the Russians.
"The Russians are dying. Best money we've ever spent,” said the senator.
The full video of the conversation is available below.
— There was a time in America that we were this way: fighting to the last person, we were going to be free or die."
— Now you are free.
— Yes.
— And we will be.
— And the Russians are dying.
— Yes, but they came to our territory. We are not fighting on their territory.
Predictably, Graham's remarks caused outrage in Russia.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the US senator dishonoured the United States.
"It is difficult to imagine a greater shame for the country than such senators,” Peskov said.
Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev pointed out that Graham should remember the high-profile assassinations of American politicians — former US Attorney General Robert Kennedy, former Senator Huey Long, politicians Clement Carlos Pinckney, John Milton Elliott and Wayne Owens.
"In his beloved America, it is not only ordinary people that get regularly killed, but they spend dirty money to kill senators there too,” he said.
Russian Foreign Ministry official spokeswoman Maria Zakharova recalled that during the Second World War, a number of American companies, including General Motors, Standard Oil, Kodak and IBM, cooperated with Nazi Germany. They provided Hitler's Germany with vehicles, oil products, fuses for bombs and control equipment. According to Zakharova, USA's investments "led to World War II and the Holocaust."