Ukraine's Commander-in-Chief prevented bridges in Kyiv from being blown up at beginning of full-scale war

At the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine and attempts to encircle Kyiv, Valerii Zaluzhnyi, the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, did not give his consent to blow up bridges in the capital.

Source: BBC News Ukraine

Details: According to BBC News Ukraine, the conversation about this arose on 26 February 2022.

On the third day of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, it was already obvious that the Russian plan to "capture Kyiv in three days" had failed, but they came very close to the capital. 

The Russians failed to land with military equipment in Hostomel, but they encircled Chernihiv, were rapidly advancing through Sumy Oblast and could have reached the left-bank suburbs of Kyiv any day then.

Publicly, the authorities urged Ukrainians not to panic, but among themselves, members of the government began to actively discuss the idea of blowing up all Kyiv bridges to delay the Russian army in front of the Dnipro River and prevent them from reaching the government quarter on the right bank.

Then, a senior government official called Ivan Bakanov who was the head of the Security Service of Ukraine at the time. This official demanded that Bakanov order his security forces to blow up the bridges and cut off the left bank of the Dnipro from the right, as BBC News Ukraine reports.

Quote: "The situation was complicated. Bakanov called General Valerii Zaluzhnyi, the Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. He [Zaluzhnyi] listened to him [Bakanov] and answered without hesitation: ‘Blow up the bridges? Absolutely not! It would be a betrayal of those who remained on the left bank of the Dnipro, both military and civilians!’."

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