Zelenskyy says he didn't leave despite intelligence suggestions

In an interview with SkyNews, Presidet of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he rarely sees his wife and children, but when he does, they share a meal together and talk about the war.

Zelenskyy not only spoke of the toll of the war on his people, but also his family - and notably his 10-year-old son.

"It's a pity that I can't see my children, once per... now it's often than from the very beginning. Last two, three months we have once per 10 days I can see my children, one, two weeks, I see, have some food, have some talks and I can see my daughter because she's a student from this year and that's why I often see her than my son.

"He's 10 years but he's thinking like... it's tragedy... it's tragedy for all our families through Ukraine. All our children are adults. All of them. They speak about war, they speak about when we will win. They know it exactly. They know better than me I think.

"It's tragedy they speak about it, not about children, not about their games between each other, not about soccer, no dialogues about soccer. That is the difference but we will change this situation I think soon."

Recalling the night of the Russian invasion almost a year ago, he described it as the start of a long, difficult day that has not yet come to a close.

"I remember there were explosions and calls in the night and I said [to my wife], 'Get ready. You should get our children ready and tell them what's going on and be prepared because it won't be safe to stay in the president's residence [where we had been living at the time]'."

Asked how close the invading Russian forces got to him, the president said "nobody knows".

"There were some people who were being detained in this district, this government district, and this is just a few kilometres from here," he said.

"There was a lot of intelligence... And a lot of this intelligence suggested that I should move fast and I should go somewhere... Don't believe it when they say that there have been dozens of attempts, and so on. I don't know, maybe secret services know about that more."

When asked about the importance of keeping his sense of humour, Zelenskyy said: "I never lost my sense of humour. I think when people lose it, they lose... state of mind."
www.anews.az