Episode summary
President Zelenskyy: It's Time To Tell You The Truth About The War! They Found 500 Bodies!
The Diary of a CEO
· · 1 hr 50 min · Hosts: Steven Bartlett · Guests: Volodymyr Zelenskyy
Summary
Volodymyr Zelenskyy says the war’s defining reality is not strategy but survival: he does not sleep, spends nights in constant contact with air-defense teams, and says the burden of leadership is tied to the grief of families who have lost children and soldiers. He describes the invasion as a moment of immediate crisis management, when missiles were falling, Kyiv was threatened, and he rejected evacuation offers with the line that he needed weapons, not escape.
He argues that Russia’s biggest mistake was failing to understand that Ukraine is a separate nation willing to fight. In his view, the war began with the 2014 occupation of Crimea and became obvious as a full-scale war only on February 24, 2022, when Russia launched a multi-front assault aimed at Kyiv. He says Russia misread Ukraine’s resistance, expected the leadership to flee, and assumed a quick victory would follow.
Zelenskyy also frames the conflict as the product of imperial nostalgia and Soviet collapse. He says Vladimir Putin wants to restore an empire centered on Ukraine, and that the Kremlin used language, history, and false claims about “fascism” to justify occupation. The interview repeatedly returns to the same point: Ukraine fought back because it had to, and because surrendering Kyiv would have meant surrendering the country itself.
Key takeaways
- Zelenskyy says he does not sleep because he is in nightly contact with air-defense teams and constant wartime decisions.
- He says the decisive failure of Russia was not understanding that Ukraine is "not Russia" and would resist occupation.
- He argues the war began with Crimea in 2014, but the full-scale invasion started on February 24, 2022.
- He says Biden offered evacuation on day one, and his answer was: "I need ammunition, not a ride."
- He believes Putin’s goal was to rebuild a Soviet-style empire, with Ukraine as the central prize.
Notable quotes
“I need ammunition, not a ride”
“The war really started with the occupation of Crimea. That's true”
“Exactly what you started with today, that Ukraine is not Russia. That's his problem”
“We are ready to help you evacuate because uh naturally well the invasion Kiev is surrounded”
How the episode opens
President Zalinski, how are you doing? — Well, it's hard. — Uh, I'll be honest. I uh don't sleep. It's a huge, terrifying pain that I wouldn't wish on anyone. — I can see the tears in your eyes. — Yeah. — The war started February 24th of 22. I didn't think there would be a full-scale invasion. I was with my family, told my wife that to the kids the war has started. I love you, I'll call you and ran up.
Satellite imagery captured a massive 64 km long Russian military convoy leading to Kiev. — And just imagine 200,000 people are coming at you. It's simply impossible to defend. Missiles were raining down on your head. Those were absolutely horrifying moments. And I was in the bunker built right inside my office. Biden called me. We are ready to help you evacuate.
What did you say to Biden? — I need ammunition, not a ride. They expected people to run and me. I couldn't abandon the people. And then people showed up as volunteers and our army grew from 200,000 to an army of 800,000. Day after day, we pushed back harder.
What was your hardest day through the last four years?
We liberated BHA. I went there. Dead bodies lying everywhere.
kids, adults, elderly people, chopped meat, butchered them, hands tied, tortured, and then buried in in in pits. When you see a mass today finding a grave in the US or in Britain, God forbid, with 500 tortured people, how do you forgive? And that's why when President Trump says we need to find a compromise, well, you can't just forgive everything like that.
Is there a realistic path to the end of this war? President Zalinski, sometimes the question I'm about to ask you, we answer it flippantly when people ask, but I really want you to answer it in the fullest honest context you possibly can.
From the episode’s captions: roughly the first two minutes, lightly cleaned. Keep watching on YouTube →
Topics
- human cost of war
- russia-ukraine negotiations
- psychological pressure
- diplomatic accountability
- wartime leadership
Watch the episode
Summary, takeaways and quote selection by Octagon. Quotes are short excerpts; the full conversation is in the episode.
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