Head of Zelenskyy's party faction on delegation for talks with Russia on 22 February: "Whoever was at hand took the trip"

The Ukrainian delegation for negotiations with Russia in February 2022 was formed from those who were "at hand" in the Ukrainian president’s bunker.

Source: Ukrainska Pravda's article Object No 1, or All Government in Zelenskyy's Bunker. 24.02: Reconstruction

Details: Davyd Arakhamia, Head of the Servant of the People party faction in the Ukrainian Parliament, said that the first opportunity to find out what the Russians wanted after the full-scale invasion came when Alexander Lukashenko, the self-proclaimed president of Belarus, asked to speak to Kyiv. And although convoys of vehicles were moving towards Kyiv from his country, the conversation did take place.

Quote: "Yes, I think it was 24 or 25 February. The infamous MP Yevhen Shevchenko somehow reached Lukashenko. He passed it on to my phone through Budanov [Ukraine’s Defence Intelligence Chief – ed.]. Lukashenko called me on WhatsApp. And the president refused to talk to him. I said: 'Let me put him on the loudspeaker so we can hear it because they are closing in from this side. We just need to understand – maybe he will say something, some information that will be of some value'."

Details: In fact, during that conversation, the first agreement to meet with the Russians was made.

Arakhamia says that the delegation was then formed quite quickly: those who were at hand in the bunker and preferably had some contacts with Belarusians or Russians before the invasion were sent.

Quote: "Podoliak [Advisor to Head of the Ukrainian President's Office – ed.] knew this deceased Makei from the Belarusian Foreign Ministry. He somehow had a connection with Belarus a long time ago. He was deported at the time, I think. And he said: 'I know this Makei'. I said: 'Then come with us, because you have at least some personal connection.' Reznikov [Ukraine’s Defence Minister] knew Gryzlov [Russian Ambassador to Belarus] from the Minsk process. When we left [for Belarus], it was not discussed why me. Because they called from my phone. We just decided to go.

Well, you know, there was no such thing as 'let's make a delegation' because there was no time for that. And where, for example, do you get a person from the Foreign Ministry, and where is the Foreign Ministry? Well, you see, we didn't know where the people we needed to summon were. So we just picked whoever was around and went there."

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