No it was a tankie thing right up to the invasion to say there was no chance of Russia invading - after Russia had deployed 100k troops on the border with military tanks and field hospital tents by that point. That had gone beyond the "exercise drills" the Kremlin spokespeople said a month earlier
And I say this because not even the Russian state TV people were denying their intentions by the last week of February. Tankies were doing more cover for Putin not wanting to invade than his own media ecosystem
I mean I just posted Zelensky himself not believing it in January 2022. Outside of US intelligence, which should always be distrusted, a lot of people didn't think Russia would invade because it would be incredibly stupid for them to do so, and it was.
Your link doesn't say Zelensky didn't believe it. In fact here he is a week before predicting Russia's build up would mean invasion likely. Because it wasn't just US intel showing the activity by Russia
Zelensky's motivation was to stop an invasion happening. That could have been an off ramp for Putin. Instead he ramped it up. There was no attempt or deescalation from Putin when Zelensky offered it in Jan 22'. His Munich speech before the invasion outlined that.
If I saw a military buildup at my border I would think that an invasion could be likely. Or that it could be posturing, like Chinese military exercises near Taiwan. It was not a certain thing, and the changing positions of Ukraine itself prove it.
Ukraine did not change position. Did you even read that interview with Zelensky that happened BEFORE your linked comment? He predicted Russia would invaded, but wanted to stop it if he could by deescalating the talk. Putin chose to ramp it up as was his goal all along.
He also said Ukraine would defend itself even without western support - a fact tankies also ignore because in their minds Ukraine has no agency and are just puppets. That's why I dislike them. Tankies are hypocritical, privileged and give more good faith to Putin than they ever dare to Zelensky
My country signed economic treaties with Russia shortly before the invasion and quickly shot them down after it happened, surprised and pissed about it. Despite a close economic relationship that they intended to increase, they never thought they would actually fuck things up like that.
Comments
https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2022/01/20/ukraine-russia-zelensky-interview/
Here's Oleksiy Danilov in January 2022 also doubting an invasion on the grounds of costs.