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Volodymyr Zelenskyy
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The Diary Of A CEO with Steven Bartlett · President Zelenskyy: Peace Is A Huge Compromise, The Horrific…
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Who Is Volodymyr Zelenskyy?
Volodymyr Zelenskyy starred as a school teacher who becomes president in Servant of the People, and Steven Bartlett says Zelenskyy then became president.
Steven Bartlett says that between the ages of 34 and 37, Zelenskyy appeared in feature films and played that teacher in the satirical series. Zelenskyy says the character is a teacher of history, and he definitely did not expect to become president. The idea was about 10 to 12 years old: a person from the people, with no political background, becomes president. Zelenskyy says that is how it turned out.
Steven Bartlett says Zelenskyy registered Servant of the People as a real political party in Ukraine. Zelenskyy says it was not calculated
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Do Diesel Prices Depend on How Much Russia Sells?
Volodymyr Zelenskyy says diesel prices do not depend on the volume Russia sells. He gives a 100% answer: they do not.
President Trump can bring Putin to the negotiating table very easily, Zelenskyy says, if President Trump adopts the same rhetoric about Putin that he already uses about Zelenskyy. Strong sanctions are already on the desk. Congress voted for them, and Zelenskyy says President Trump can use them. Zelenskyy says he honestly does not know why President Trump has not, and he can only guess at a special relationship or economic deals. Steven Bartlett says the midterms are coming and President Trump might worry about energy prices in America more than about Ukraine. Americans expor
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Does Zelenskyy Think Putin Will Use Nuclear Weapons?
Volodymyr Zelenskyy says he does not think Putin will risk nuclear weapons. He is sure Putin would then have no allies left, including America and China, because a nuclear attack is far too dangerous even for nuclear powers.
Steven Bartlett asked if Zelenskyy is concerned about escalation to nuclear weapons. Zelenskyy says the thought crosses everyone's mind after what has already been done. If one country uses a nuclear weapon once, he says, it might be used a second and a third time in a conflict on another continent, such as the Middle East.
Zelenskyy says Putin and the system around him will hold onto each other until the end of his days. Only when his life ends will he leave the Kreml
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Why Did Russian Troops Pack Parade Uniforms for Kiev?
Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Russian troops packed parade uniforms because they planned to capture Kiev in three days and stage a pseudo victory on Independence Square. The soldiers were literally marching to a parade.
Steven Bartlett says state media accidentally released a pre-scheduled victory declaration on day three. Putin never publicly uttered the phrase three days, while top Russian state media figures openly bragged that the conquest would take only a few days. Zelenskyy says they underestimated that Ukraine is not Russia. Putin still looks at Ukraine as part of Russia: march in with an army of hundreds of thousands of men, slam a fist on the table, the president runs, people hide, and
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Why Did Zelenskyy Refuse to Leave Kiev?
Volodymyr Zelenskyy told Joe Biden he needed ammunition, not a ride. Biden was the first leader to offer to evacuate Zelenskyy and his family after Kiev was surrounded.
Day after day, Zelenskyy said, they pushed back harder. Russian forces cut off food, cut off water, and cut everything off completely. Their mission was to make people run, and to make Zelenskyy run. People came to him and said Kiev was cut off and surrounded, and the Russians were suggesting he hand over his powers so Kiev would surrender. He sent them out of his office. Leaders called with offers to evacuate him before the roads out of Kiev were blocked. Steven Bartlett asked who called and whether they offered to evacuate
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Does the American President Matter While Putin Stays?
Volodymyr Zelenskyy says it does not matter who the president is as long as Putin is there. Steven Bartlett asked whether Trump is right that the invasion never would have begun if Trump had been president, a claim Trump has made probably a hundred times. Zelenskyy says nobody knows the answer. He calls three things facts: the invasion happened during Biden's presidency, it did not happen under Trump, and Putin chose the moment for a full occupation.
Zelenskyy says Trump had a special relationship with Putin and still does. Zelenskyy says maybe it is possible that friendly terms with Putin could have prevented a full-scale invasion, and he leaves that only as a maybe. What he states for sur
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What Did Zelenskyy Ask Biden Before the Invasion?
Volodymyr Zelenskyy asked President Biden to impose sanctions on Russia before any invasion. President Biden said sanctions would come only if Russia invaded, after the fact, not beforehand. Zelenskyy believes that wait was a mistake.
Zelenskyy asked the Americans for a clear signal. If they believed it was war, he wanted weapons urgently, everything they could give. Nobody would give anything. He then asked for sanctions, something everybody in Europe already knew about. He asked President Biden to impose sanctions on Russia now, preemptively. If Biden knew there could be an invasion, Zelenskyy wanted the sanctions first, so Russia would not go in if the decision to invade was real. Presid
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Why Does Russia Accuse Ukraine of Nazis?
Russia accuses Ukraine of supposedly having Nazis because Putin said Ukraine has fascism and he is liberating Ukraine from fascists. Volodymyr Zelenskyy says the accusation is absurd and completely wild. Fascism does not exist in Ukraine. Ukrainians fought the fascists and were the ones liberating.
Zelenskyy's grandfather, his father's dad, went through World War II from start to finish. He came from a family of several brothers, and the Nazis killed all of them. Zelenskyy has very few relatives on his father's side and his mother's side, because many relatives were killed by the fascists. During World War II, Ukraine was occupied 100 percent, completely. Belarus was occupied too. Nazi Germ
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When Did the War in Ukraine Really Begin?
Volodymyr Zelenskyy says the war really began with the occupation of Crimea in 2014. Ukraine regained independence in 1991, and in 2014 people could not believe an occupation of that kind was happening.
The occupation was slow and did not look much like a war, because Ukraine was not fighting back. Shots were fired when Crimea was occupied, but for a long time Russia would not admit the armed men were its people. They looked like regular people and were called little green men, because nobody could tell what the uniform was. They carried weapons on the peninsula while Ukrainian authorities gave no clear order to defend the land as Crimea was seized gradually. Zelenskyy calls it a creeping o
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How Did Zelenskyy Change as a Boy?
Volodymyr Zelenskyy says he changed like the wind as a boy. There was a time when he really wanted to be a diplomat, and he wanted to be a border guard.
He went to law school and graduated from the law faculty. While studying, he realized he was more interested in media, so he got out and started working in that field. Steven Bartlett says Zelenskyy became interested in comedy at 17, joined a comedy group, and kept at it until about 26, as a comedian before starting a media company. Zelenskyy says he was a script writer and sometimes, as a writer, also did a little acting. He enjoyed it until he was 26, and at 26 he got his own company. At 28 he won Ukraine's Dancing with the Stars. Asked i
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What Keeps Volodymyr Zelenskyy Strong?
Volodymyr Zelenskyy says his kids keep him strong and grounded. He wants them to be proud of him. He told himself he has to set an example for them: be strong and be as brave as possible. He added that maybe he does not have to, but that is what he told himself.
Steven Bartlett asked what Zelenskyy does to take care of himself and what keeps him strong, after Zelenskyy spoke about parents who lost a soldier. The parents knew it could happen. Zelenskyy said knowing and losing are completely different things. He is a human being and is not ashamed of who he is. He is not the strongest man in the world and is not a perfect person, but he tries to set an example. He said not to hide the pain. I
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What Happened When a Missile Hit a Playground?
Volodymyr Zelenskyy says a missile hit a playground so fast the siren did not help at all. Children were killed, and adults were killed too. His pain is not even 10% of the parents' pain.
The missile struck in a matter of seconds. A couple who were out walking were killed as they passed by. Homes sit beside the playground, and some parents saw through a window as a child was torn apart. People bring flowers for adults and toys for children after such a tragedy. Zelenskyy went there. He calls the strike terrifying: a missile cut short the life of a child who had seen nothing yet.
Many children among the fallen never lived in peace. Zelenskyy says his generation understands life with no sire