Zelenskyy on the cost of war, Kyiv’s defence and the compromises behind peace

A president living with war’s human toll

In this episode of The Diary Of A CEO, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy discusses Ukraine’s war with Russia, his decision to remain in Kyiv and the difficulty of pursuing peace after alleged atrocities. The conversation is Zelenskyy’s account and is not independently corroborated here.

Zelenskyy says he rarely sleeps through the night because he remains in contact with air-defence operators, discussing immediate needs and the movement of resources between regions. He describes presenting posthumous honours to bereaved parents as an especially painful duty, while saying his children motivate him to remain strong without concealing his emotions.

The invasion’s first hours and the decision to stay

Recounting 24 February 2022, Zelenskyy says he had not expected a full-scale assault. After learning that missiles were flying, he told his wife and children that war had begun and went to his office. He recalls focusing on rapid decisions, calls with foreign leaders and efforts to maintain food, water, communications and weapons logistics as Russian forces advanced towards Kyiv.

According to Zelenskyy, US President Joe Biden offered to help evacuate him and his family. Zelenskyy says he instead requested ammunition and remained in a bunker beneath his office. He also made frequent public appearances and recordings to counter Russian claims that he had fled, believing that leaving would damage civilian and military morale.

Why Kyiv did not fall

Zelenskyy argues that Russia’s central miscalculation was failing to anticipate Ukrainian resistance. He says Ukraine’s principal forces had been concentrated in the east, leaving the approach from Belarus comparatively exposed, but mobilisation and volunteering rapidly expanded the armed forces. In his telling, Russian troops could advance and encircle Kyiv but lacked the numbers required to hold resistant towns along the route.

He identifies the battle for Hostomel airport as pivotal because control of its runway could have enabled Russia to land a much larger force near the capital. Zelenskyy says the airport repeatedly changed hands before Ukrainian forces denied Russia the logistical foothold it sought.

Bucha shapes his view of peace and justice

Zelenskyy calls his visit to Bucha after Ukrainian forces retook the town his hardest day of the war. He alleges that he saw bodies in the streets and describes evidence of torture, mass burial and sexual violence. He says journalists were brought in to document the scene. These grave allegations are presented in the episode as Zelenskyy’s account.

Those experiences, he says, make even a ceasefire an enormous compromise for Ukrainians who have lost relatives. Zelenskyy argues that peace cannot simply require victims to forgive: it needs security guarantees and at least a credible path towards accountability. He nevertheless describes stopping the fighting as his central ambition and says justice is necessary to reduce the risk of continuing cycles of revenge and violence.

A disputed path to negotiations

Asked how the war might end, Zelenskyy contends that US pressure and sanctions could bring Vladimir Putin to negotiations, while acknowledging that he can only speculate about why President Donald Trump has not taken a harder line. He also rejects calls for Ukraine to withdraw farther from current positions without firm security guarantees, warning that doing so could expose additional cities to attack. These are Zelenskyy’s assessments rather than established outcomes.