Zelenskyy about Russia’s early war pressure and attempted murder

The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, spoke about the pressure exerted on him and the Ukrainian leadership at the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion. He stated that the invaders tried to impose an ultimatum on Ukraine that was even tougher than the Minsk agreements.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke about it in an interview with The Guardian.

What Russia demanded from Zelenskyy at the beginning of the full-scale invasion

According to him, the enemy demanded a complete abandonment of national interests, including the demilitarisation of the country, the establishment of a pro-Russian leadership, the official status of the Russian language, and the recognition of the occupied territories. Zelenskyy emphasized that this was a betrayal of Ukrainian sovereignty that he could not accept.

"They gave an ultimatum. It was similar to Minsk (Minsk agreements — Ed.), but it was even tougher. They wanted to give us an ultimatum that we would completely betray our national interests. That is, all these words "demilitarisation", "denazification" so that we would not have an army so that pro-Russian people would rule the State so that we would recognize and give up the territories so that Russian would be the official language," Zelenskyy said. 

The President also noted that at the time, he was under pressure from various parties, including international leaders and some members of the political establishment. Some advised him to leave the country, while others convinced him that Kyiv would fall in a matter of days. At the same time, fighting was taking place in the capital, there was an attempted Russian landing, and people were killed in attacks on the Office of the President.

"Everyone said, they sent various messengers, even among the deputies. They said that tomorrow we will be occupied, we have to run. Many leaders called and told us to leave. There was pressure from different sides. Some people wanted to murder us, there were shots, some people died. Here, inside our office. Some people defended us. There was an airborne assault. All this was happening. And in parallel with this, there were ultimatums, they put pressure and there were calls from different sides," Volodymyr Zelenskyy said. 

Zelenskyy emphasized that despite all the threats, he declined Putin’s ultimatums and stayed in Kyiv to resist the aggression together with Ukrainians.

As a reminder, Volodymyr Zelenskyy recently announced the preparation of negotiations at many levels and the visit of the US Presidential Administration to Ukraine.

Media also listed steps that the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy should take to get help from the U.S.