“I’m staying in Kyiv,” says Zelensky from his presidential office
In a video posted last night on the Ukrainian presidency website, Volodymyr Zelensky speaks in his presidential office in Kiev.
“I stay in Kiev (…) I am not hiding. And I’m not afraid of anyone”he says during this video sequence which starts on a plan of Kiev taken from the window of the presidential building in order to prove its location.
The Ukrainian president joins his office for a nearly nine-minute speech during which he accuses Russia of having thwarted the evacuation of civilians on Monday.
“There was an agreement on the humanitarian corridors. Did it work? Russian tanks operated instead, the Grad [lance-roquettes multiples] Russians, Russian mines »he complains.
The Ukrainian president claims that Russian forces have “undermined the route that had been agreed to bring food and medicine” in the besieged city of Mariupol in southern Ukraine, and accuses them of “destroy the buses” to evacuate civilians from combat zones. “They ensure that a small corridor to the occupied territory is open, for a few dozen people. Not so much to Russia as to the propagandists, straight to the TV cameras”continued Mr. Zelensky, accusing Moscow of “cynicism”.
The Ukrainian president, however, indicated that Kiev will continue to negotiate with Russia until a peace agreement is found.
Here is the sequence in question below, and the translation of the speech, in English, on this link :