“It was an absolute madhouse”says Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky in an interview with the magazine Timeto which he revealed that he was one of Vladimir Putin’s targets at the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, assuring that this war is only the Russian president’s door “to enter Europe”.
“Just have to stop a person for millions to survive,” says Zelensky in the note in which he reveals, for example, how Russian troops tried to penetrate the presidential residence, in the center of kyiv, on at least two occasions, when the president, formerly an actor and now a leader of the Ukrainian resistance, and his family were inside.
Zelensky gave an extensive interview to Time magazine journalist Simon Shuster, with whom lived 15 days for the report.
Zelensky speaks to the Ukrainians from an unidentified location in kyiv. Photo: AFP
In the note, Zelensky describes the first hours of the invasion as “an absolute madhouse”. While his memories of him are “fragmented,” he said the early morning of February 24 is etched in his memory.
After the first bombings in the Ukrainian capital, which were heard before the sun came up; he and his wife, Olena Zelenska, went to wake his 17-year-old daughter and his nine-year-old son to prepare for escape.
“There was a lot of noise, you could hear explosions,” Zelensky recalled of the start of the invasion on February 24. “We woke them up. It was loud.”
Time Magazine Cover Revealing Zelensky Interview
Paratroopers over kyiv
The Zelenskys soon realized that the capital it was not a safe place to stay. The Ukrainian army informed the president that the Russian soldiers they had parachuted over kyiv to kill or capture him and his family.
“Before that night, just we had seen things like that in the movies“, confessed to the American magazine the chief of staff of the president, Andriy Yermak.
On February 24, President Vladimir Putin announced the start of the offensive on Ukraine, which continues to advance to this day.
“You understand that they are looking at you. You are a symbol. You have to act the way the head of state should act”
Volodymyr Zelensky
President of Ukraine
According to Time, that night took place a special operation to evacuate the president and his familya task that “was not easy”.
The evacuation of the presidential family was the first step. Then you had to arm and coverassured the president, who is praised for the resistance and leadership he is showing during the conflict with Russia.
Oleksiy Arestovych, a veteran of Ukraine’s military intelligence service, also interviewed by Time, recalled what happened next: “The guards inside the compound lights out and they brought bulletproof vests and assault rifles for Zelensky and a dozen of his aides.”
However, despite the recommendations of the main world leaders, Zelensky decided to stay in the country and accompany “his people”.
“You understand that they are looking at you. You are a symbol. You have to act the way the head of state should act,” said the president, who appears on the cover of the latest issue of Time.
The Ukrainian leader warned that the blood spilled in his country will not be the only one since this war it is just Putin’s door “to enter Europe”.
“You only have to stop one person for millions to survive,” he warned.
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