Why Ukraine’s president is talking down the threat from Russia

BLOOD MAY soon be spilled in Ukraine, but will it be real or fake? On January 31st authorities arrested a group they said was planning to stage riots in Ukrainian cities. The plot allegedly involved thousands of paid anti-government protesters, smoke bombs and litres of fake blood for the cameras, with medics on the scene to simulate first aid. The goal, explained Ihor Klymenko, Ukraine’s police chief, was to shake the country with viral images of unrest and police brutality.

Yet two days earlier, Ukraine’s government dismissed leaks from American intelligence officials that Russia was transporting supplies of blood to its troops at the Ukrainian border to treat potential casualties of war. “The purpose of such information is to spread panic and fear in our society,” wrote the deputy defence minister, Hanna Maliar, in a Facebook post. A rhetorical and analytical rift has opened between Ukraine and America. While the Americans warn of an imminent Russian invasion, Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine’s president, thinks the gravest threat may come from within.

Mr Zelensky rejects the assessment reportedly...