Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke in an interview with the British Guardian about the assassination attempts against him in the first days of the full-scale Russian invasion and the deaths of people in the presidential office.
"There was pressure from different sides. There were people who wanted to kill. There were shots and things like that. Some people died here, inside our office, there were other people of ours who were protecting. There was a landing of troops, etc. All this happened. And in parallel with this, there were ultimatums. "They are putting pressure", Zelensky said, quoted by "Ukrainskaya Pravda".
He also said that there had been calls from various parties, including leaders of other countries, for him to leave the country.
In the interview, Zelensky also dismissed suggestions that former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson might dissuade him from signing a peace agreement with Russia in the spring of 2022, which was discussed at the meeting in Istanbul.
Russian authorities had earlier said that the former British Prime Minister had allegedly forbidden Zelensky from signing the agreement. Boris Johnson called the proposals "complete nonsense".
"Putin really likes this story about Turkey, these meetings," the Ukrainian president said. When Johnson arrived, we walked around Kiev together. We had already expelled Russian troops from the outskirts of Kiev. So it doesn't make sense that he could put pressure on me."