The Telegraph newspaper published excerpts from S. Shuster’s latest book “The Showman: Inside the invasion that shook the world and made a leader from Volodymyr Zelensky” “), which will be released on January 23.
Shuster writes that during the first years of the Russian invasion, the president and his team allowed him to spend most of his time in the presidency and closely observe the work of the president and his team.
“At times everything seemed almost normal despite the sirens. We joked and drank coffee, but it was also a time of fatigue and fear,” he writes.
February 24th
S.Shuster describes the year 2022. February 24 in the morning at Zelenskiy’s house. The shepherd and the parrot were the first to be alarmed. The first lady heard the explosions around 4:30 a.m. morning In the next room she found her husband already dressed in a dark gray suit.
“Her confused look forced Zelensky to utter one word: ‘It has begun,'” writes the journalist.
VIDEO: Ukrainian President V. Zelenskiy addressed the Russian people: we want to create our own history
V. Zelenskii “did not believe until the end that this would happen”, the book says. On the eve of the Russian invasion, Olena Zelenska noted that she needed to pack her suitcase, but she never did – she did homework, had dinner and watched TV with her children.
Telegram/Volodymyr Zelensky on the front line near Avdijivka
“Her husband never said anything to convince her that they were in danger. He often masked his fear with laughter and smiles. Now she knew from his eyes that everything was much worse than she expected. “Emotionally,” she said later, “he was like a guitar string.” His nerves were on edge. But she saw no fear that morning. “He was completely concentrated, focused,” writes S.Shuster.
V. Zelensky’s phone was flooded with calls, including from the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Denis Monastyrsky, who was “sleeping in his office and waiting for signs of an attack.” The president asked what direction Russia had chosen for the attack. “All,” D. Monastyrskis answered. After a pause, V. Zelenskis answered with a phrase that D. Monastyrskis remembered for a long time: “Give them a rebuttal.”
AFP/”Scanpix” photo/Volodymyr Zelensky during the election campaign
As the journalist writes, “such confidence has always been one of Zelensky’s strong points”, but at that moment he seemed “bordering on delusion” – he knew that Ukraine lacked the means to retaliate. For his actions before the invasion, V. Zelensky took at least part of the blame for the state of Ukraine’s defenses – for weeks he downplayed the risks and “rejected military commanders’ advice to strengthen the border”.
VIDEO: V. Zelensky addressed the nation once more: I am here, we will defend our country
In the morning of the same day, some officers had already packed their things into cars and fled, writes S.Shuster. Several European leaders offered to help V. Zelensky leave the country. He found such proposals somewhat offensive, as if the Allies had written him off. “I’m sick of it,” he said later. In every conversation, he tried to turn the topic to what Ukraine needed—weapons—and was irritated when he heard new offers to help leave the country in response. “I’m sorry, that’s just a bad tone,” he said.
S. Shuster also describes how V. Zelenski encouraged himself: “They are watching. You are a symbol. You have to act the way a head of state should act.”
The fight for Hostomel Airport
In the weeks before the invasion, CIA Director William Burns warned the Ukrainian leadership that Russia’s strategy hinged on being able to land its troops at Hostomel airport near Kyiv. According to S.Shuster, V.Zelensky doubted this, believing that the Russian plan did not include enough 4 million troops. to occupy a populous city.
According to aides, when V. Zelensky began to receive reports regarding the Russian attack at the airport, he became furious.
“He gave the strictest orders. Show no mercy. To use all available weapons to destroy everything Russian there,” one aide recalled.
However, Ukraine did not have the forces to defend the airport, and when the soldiers ran out of ammunition, they were forced to retreat. Meanwhile, European leaders held an emergency summit to discuss punishment for Russia. The leaders of Germany, Austria and Hungary did not want to cut ties with the Russian banking system, and there was a dispute for a while until Zelensky intervened.
According to the journalist, that day the president was pale, tired and with his first “wartime” beard. He didn’t really believe that his allies would save him, and it was noticeable. “This may be the last time you see me alive,” he said. V. Zelenskyi demanded an answer as to whether Ukraine will ever be allowed to join the European Union. S.Shuster claims that his speech, which lasted no more than five minutes, had a greater impact than “months, if not years, of discussions regarding the Russian threat.”
Months in the bunker
“In the first days, I woke everyone up. I had no right to sleep until I knew what and where the blows came from,” said V. Zelenskis. 4:50 a.m. in the morning he already asked to provide the latest information.
Some members of the chancellery began to worry regarding V. Zelensky’s health – according to one aide, he “resembled a walking corpse.”
According to the book, there was little to eat in the bunker of the president’s office – sweets were distributed during meetings, and the communal kitchen was stocked with canned meat and stale bread. One minister told a journalist that he ate only chocolate for several days.
“Nights were the hardest for Zelensky. His bed was such that he might barely roll over. His phone rarely stopped ringing.
Zelensky’s face turned pale. He complained regarding the lack of sunlight and fresh air,” writes the journalist.
Some members of the chancellery began to worry regarding V. Zelensky’s health – according to one assistant, he “resembled a walking corpse”.
“One morning the president mumbled ‘good morning.’ I mightn’t even answer. I had never seen a person in such a condition,” she recalled.
Later, the routine in the bunker of the President’s office improved, writes S.Shuster. The first morning video conference has been moved to 7:00 a.m. in the morning, so V. Zelenskis had time for breakfast – “always scrambled eggs”. Workers started getting hot food. Even following the ban came into effect, stocks of alcohol were kept in the chancellery, and V. Zelenskis occasionally “poured a glass of wine for his assistants who ate with him.”
There were dumbbells and barbells in the bunker, which V. Zelenskis “used to lift at night”. Later, a ping-pong table was installed there, and “only a few people might beat it,” S.Shuster writes. Sometimes he would take his employees to see a movie, usually a new Hollywood movie. V. Zelensky “mightn’t digest Soviet comedies anymore”.
A new phase of the war
S.Shuster writes that V.Zelensky invited him to his office to talk following the start of the battle for Donbass, around the 55th day of the invasion. The journalist notes that initially comrades often called V. Zelensky Volodya and did not get up when he entered the room. By that time, they had already moved on to the official address of Volodymyr Oleksandrovich. Office workers, soldiers and senior aides “stood on command calmly, not afraid of him, but tense” as the president came out to meet Shuster.
The journalist remembers that at the beginning of the election campaign, V. Zelensky said how important it is not to lose the people “who surround you… support you, advise you when you make a mistake.” Shuster writes that he wondered “if anyone still plays this role.” He describes Ukraine’s ban on Russian-linked political parties and how Zelensky “settled scores” with “his former patron” oligarchs Ihor Kolomoisky and Hennady Korban, who were stripped of their Ukrainian citizenship.
Secret visit to Kherson
The president arrived in Kherson shortly following it was liberated from the Russian occupiers. S.Shuster also received an invitation from the Office of the President, which did not specify the destination of the trip.
Photo by Reuters/Scanpix/President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kherson
As the journalist points out, the Russians might have left agents who might have tried to kill V. Zelensky, besides, the city was in the sights of the Russian artillery, and the bodyguards convinced the president to wait until he left. When asked why it was necessary to go to Kherson, V. Zelenskis answered that “it’s all because of the people”.
They have been occupied for nine months. Yes, they had two days of euphoria. Soon they will be depressed.
“They have been occupied for nine months. Yes, they had two days of euphoria. They will soon be depressed,” he said.
Scanpix/AP Photo/President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kherson
Shuster describes the president’s first stop in Kherson, a square where the city’s residents celebrated his liberation.
“The explosions continued, but Zelensky, standing next to his Land Cruiser, did not seem concerned. As usual, he refused to wear a helmet or bulletproof vest. At one point, shouts of “Glory to Ukraine!” were heard. Zelensky, to the dismay of his guards, went to greet the advancing crowd… One of the guards, who was scanning the crowd for threats, might see horror in his eyes. Zelensky smiled and waved his hand,” the book says.
Photo by Reuters/Scanpix/President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kherson
According to S. Shuster, his opinion regarding “what Zelensky is like,” as people have often asked him, has changed over time, as has Zelensky’s character. The journalist writes that during the election campaign, he seemed to him “a naïve charmer, preparing to enter the world of cynics, oligarchs and thugs, who, for a reason, considered him easy prey.” Until 2019 By the end of the 1990s, most of that “innocence” had disappeared, “but the authorities had not hardened him yet,” says S.Shuster.
He writes that the character of the president changed the most during the first months of the war.
Stubborn, self-confident, vindictive, direct, brave to the point of recklessness and merciless to those who stood in his way.
“Stubborn, self-confident, vindictive, forthright, brave to the point of recklessness and merciless to those who stood in his way, he channeled the anger and resilience of his people and purposefully expressed it to the world.” But it was the qualities of a showman that he developed during his 20-year acting career that made Zelensky so effective in this war,” the book’s author writes.
He claims that privately some of V. Zelensky’s friends and office workers admitted that they “were shocked by the new president’s ‘I'”.
S. Shuster writes that he does not know “whether Zelensky will have the wisdom and restraint to give up his extraordinary wartime powers.” He also recalls another meeting with the president in Washington shortly before 2022. Christmas, during V. Zelensky’s first trip abroad since the beginning of the invasion.
AFP/Scanpix photo/Volodymyr Zelenskyi and Joe Biden
The journalist says that then he recorded V. Zelensky in the Capitol.
“Perhaps somewhere, probably in the area of the eyes, his features were still enlivened by the young comedian Zelensky. But it was difficult for me to see any trace of him. His easy manner of movement did not support the burden of the invasion. His gait seemed leaden and his shoulders stiff, like a bulldog going into battle. The war was not over, not even close. However, the man at the center of it had completed his transformation into a wartime leader,” writes S.Shuster.
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2024-07-07 16:39:06