Lukashenko Explains Why Russia Did Not Capture Kyiv in the First Days When 'Zelensky Was Sitting in the Basement'

Lukashenko has explained why Russia did not capture Kyiv in the first days when 'Zelensky was sitting in the basement.' He stated, 'The issue was really a matter of a few days. If the Russians had captured Kyiv, can you imagine what kind of war it would have been? The war would have ended,' Alexander Lukashenko said in an interview with Ukrainian journalist Diana Panchenko.

Lukashenko mentioned that Vladimir Putin had told him that taking the capital, Kyiv, could be done immediately, instantaneously, but that a huge number of people would die. That was the reason he did not make that move.

Alexander Lukashenko stated that Ukrainian forces came out onto the streets not only with tanks but also with numerous missile systems. At the same time, they hid behind kindergartens, schools, hospitals, and other social institutions.

He elaborated, 'How, he asks, can we fight them militarily? Here, he says, we are conducting a precise operation; we are at the outskirts of Kyiv, we cannot indiscriminately beat them, meaning he was concerned that he had to fight there in a way that nothing remains in place of this school.'

'You probably know that the Russian troops at the outskirts of Kyiv left there of their own accord, and Zelensky did nothing there. It was Putin who withdrew the troops. So he is mistakenly attributing to himself a feat that did not exist. Yes, he was sitting in the basement at that time, Diana. Your Zelensky was sitting in the basement at that time, and the soldiers saw how this would end,' emphasized Alexander Lukashenko.