Posted on 4/29/2022 12:44 PM
(Credit: Genya Savilov/AFP)
According to the American magazine Time, Ukrainian President Volodmyr Zelenskyy was almost captured by Russian troops in the early hours of the invasion of Ukraine. In a report published by the magazine on Thursday, the 28th, Zelenskyy claims that Russian soldiers parachuted over Kyiv at dawn on the 24th to capture or assassinate him, at a time when the presidential complex was not prepared to defend him.
Ukrainian military personnel reveal to Time that barricades were hastily and improvised to seal the complex’s doors and prevent invasion when Russian attacks began. The magazine describes these barricades as a heap, “more like junk” than a fortress.
Zelensky evokes memories of that day, describing them as “fragmented”, in a disjointed set of images and sounds. One of the most striking is the moment when he and his wife Olena Zelenska woke their children to tell them that the bombings had started and they had to flee. The daughter is 17 and the son is 9, both old enough to understand that they were in danger. “It was loud. There were explosions,” the president told Time.
At that moment, the Ukrainian military felt that reality had changed drastically. “Before that night, we had only seen these things in movies,” Andri Yermak, the president’s chief of staff, told the magazine. Another Zelensky associate, Oleksi Arestovich, described the situation as “absolute madness”.
On the first day of the invasion, Zelenskyy stayed at the presidential complex and received allies and members of his government, who went there to demonstrate that they were with him despite the threat to the site. As night fell, gunshots all heard on the premises. Guards distributed bulletproof vests and rifles to Zelensky and helpers. Few of them knew how to use weapons.
According to Arestovich, Russian troops tried to storm the complex twice that day. Zelensky and his wife were still there, about to be captured or killed.
As the conflict continued, the United States even offered Zelenskyy a way out of Ukraine, banishing him to a safer place. However, the President turned down the offer, telling the US government he needed “ammo, not a ride”. The phrase made headlines around the world as an example of the Ukrainian president’s courage, but concealed the very high risk of death that existed at that moment.
Time claims Zelenskyy’s own guards advised him to leave presidential grounds. The buildings of the complex are surrounded by a densely populated neighborhood in Kyiv, where apartments and houses could serve as hiding places and strategic points for enemy snipers. “Some houses are close enough to throw a grenade (in the complex) out the window,” the magazine says.
“The place was open. We didn’t even have concrete blocks to close the road,” Arestovich described in the report.
The President was advised to go to a secure bunker that would withstand a long siege by Russian troops, but Zelenskyy refused to go there. Instead, he put himself at even greater risk on the second night of the invasion when he took to the streets of Kyiv to film a video to ensure he stayed in Ukraine.
As he told the magazine, it was clear to him in that moment what role he would play in the war. “They understand that they (people) are watching,” he said. “You are an icon. They must act as a head of state should act,” he concluded.