"Total lack of understanding of Ukraine": Zelenskyy's office on alleged Russian plans to change the country's leadership

Roman Petrenko — Wednesday, 2 March 2022, 15:48

The Kremlin's alleged plan to make the fugitive former Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych the new "leader of Ukraine" is an illustration of the total lack of understanding of the real situation and attitudes in Ukraine, according to Zelenskyy's office.

Source: Advisor to the Ukrainian President's Chief of Staff Mykhailo Podolyak in a comment to Ukrainska Pravda.

Quote: "There are a few important aspects to this fairytale of 'Yanukovych in Minsk'. The first and the most important one is that any mention of the name Yanukovych as any 'possibility' shows us again the total lack of understanding by the Russian Federation of the real opinion landscape in Ukraine.

"It's a total lack of understanding what sort of country this is. The Russians never had any objective analysis. That's the source of these killer decisions. It's akin to the propagandist tales of 'mass greeting of the Russian tanks with flowers'.

In fact, no such meetings, even sporadically, take place. There is only anger and the cruellest destruction of these same tanks, and even mass attempts to stop the military vehicles by people with their own bodies.

It is a mistake to think that they will get a kind reception in a country that hates any kind of invaders. [Their thinking] is akin to the conviction of the Russian elites that hundreds of thousands of nationalists are marching on our streets. In short, they have no idea about Ukraine.

Another aspect of this strange story is that Yanukovych is completely dead, politically speaking. Such a weird outsider with a toxic reputation, even the mention of his name sounds audacious. That would definitely cause even fiercer resistance".

Details: Podolyak said that the personalities of Victor Medvedchuk [Ukrainian Pro-Russian politician], who is a godfather to one of Putin's children, and another pro-Russian politician, Yevhen Murayev, have invoked the same feelings. According to Podolyak, these individuals are completely incompatible with the Ukrainian context".

Background: According to sources in the intelligence community, Yanukovych is currently in Minsk, and the Kremlin is preparing him for a special operation to reinstate him as the "president" of Ukraine.