Zelensky says people died during assassination attempt on his life in the Presidential Office
12 February 14:47
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy claims that there were attempts to kill him, and that people inside the Presidential Office were killed during one of the assassination attempts.
He said this during an interview with the Guardian, Komersant ukrainskyi reports.
Zelensky spoke about the events at the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion, when Russia offered a “peace” deal, which, according to him, required a betrayal of Ukrainian national interests.
In addition, at that time, he was “sent messengers,” including from the parliamentary corps, who “came and said that ‘tomorrow we will be occupied, we have to run’.” He also received calls from leaders of different countries asking him to leave.
“There was pressure from different sides. There were people who wanted to kill us, there were shots. Some people died here, inside our office. There were other people who defended us… There was an amphibious landing,” Zelensky said.
He also assured that he had “never given the go-ahead for any ultimatums” from Russia, but the Russian leader, according to the Ukrainian president, likes to constantly remind him that Russia is ready for negotiations based on the Istanbul agreements.
Zelenskyy also commented on Russian claims that in 2022, then-British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, during his visit to Kyiv, forbade the Ukrainian authorities to negotiate with Russia, which allegedly disrupted the Istanbul agreements.
According to Zelenskyy, the Russians’ claim that Johnson was involved in the “disruption” of the talks “does not coincide with logic,” because he arrived when the Ukrainian military had liberated the Kyiv region.
“Logic can be” if Johnson arrived when “it was very difficult” and Kyiv could potentially agree to “anything.”
“(Let’s imagine that – ed.) we are being blackmailed, Johnson comes and says: “We are with you, hold on, don’t make concessions to Russia.” You can imagine this at least somehow. But when Johnson arrived, the most difficult thing (has already passed – ed.) – we recaptured Kyiv region,” Zelensky said.
In addition, he referred to sociological data in 2022, which showed that most Ukrainians did not support the idea of negotiations with the Russians at that time. Therefore, he “did not need support from other colleagues” if Ukrainians had the same opinion, the president assures.
Earlier, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova repeatedly stated that in the spring of 2022, Russia and Ukraine were allegedly “close to reaching mutually acceptable agreements,” but then-British Prime Minister Boris Johnson arrived in Ukraine, “forbade Zelenskyy to negotiate further and demanded that the war continue.”
At the same time, former Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said that in 2022 “there was no peaceful settlement” and no chance to end the war. Otherwise, Western partners would have “pressured” Ukraine to do so.
