When asked to comment on Zelensky’s latest remarks during a press briefing in the White House on Friday, Kirby said at first that the US continued to “monitor some radiation sensors that are around the plant.” The official added that “thus far, we’ve detected no elevated levels of radioactivity.”

When pressed further by a reporter, the NSC spokesman clarified that while he had “seen those comments,” he did not “have anything to confirm them or speak to the validity of them.”

Commenting on Zelensky’s claim on Thursday, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov described it as “yet another lie.”