The Diary Of A CEOPresident Zelenskyy: Peace Is A Huge Compromise, The Horrific Atrocities Of Russian War Crimes!
The Diary Of A CEO
Early war and loss 0:00
He describes the first hours of the invasion as terrifying. He says he told his wife and children the war had started, then went to the bunker inside his office while missiles fell and a long Russian convoy moved toward Kyiv. When Biden offered evacuation, he replied that he needed ammunition, not a ride. He also recalls Bucha, where he saw bodies, torture, and mass graves, and says compromise cannot mean forgiving such crimes.
Living with war 6:30
He says he does not sleep and speaks every night with air defense crews about what is needed and where to move equipment. He says his hardest moments come when he gives awards to parents who lost children in the war. His children keep him grounded. He wants them to see him as strong, but he also says a person should not hide pain and must stay honest about fear.
When the war began 19:31
The war, in his view, began with the occupation of Crimea in 2014. He says it was slow and did not look like war at first because Ukraine did not fight back, Russian forces hid behind the image of ordinary “little green men,” and there were no clear orders to defend the peninsula. He says the mistake was not pushing them back then, and that if Ukraine had defended itself at once, the full-scale war of today might not have happened. He also explains why Russian claims about “Nazis” in Ukraine sound absurd to him. His grandfather fought through World War II, many relatives were killed by the Nazis, and Ukraine itself was occupied and lost huge numbers of people. For him, Russia reversing that history is barbaric and false.
Invasion warnings 38:00
He says the warnings before the invasion were careful and indirect, not a plain statement that war was coming on a certain day. He kept asking for weapons, clear signals, and sanctions in advance. He says President Biden would only agree to sanctions after an invasion, and he saw that as a mistake. He also says Putin was telling European leaders he would not invade.
First hours in Kyiv 45:32
He remembers waking to missiles and telling his wife and children that the war had started. He went to the office at once, called staff in, and began working from a bunker under the office while security guarded the building. Biden called and offered evacuation, but he answered, "I need ammunition, not a ride." He says the first days were chaotic, with many claims that he had fled.
Staying in Kyiv 58:00
He says he could not abandon Kyiv, the office, or the people. Russian claims that he had fled forced him to keep appearing in the street and speaking several times a day so people could see he was still on Bankova. He says that mattered to the military, who later told him they fought harder because their president had stayed with them.
Crisis and resistance 1:00:00
He describes the first days as nonstop crisis work, with almost no sleep, constant calls, logistics for weapons, food, and water, and efforts to break the siege of Kyiv. He says Russia expected a three-day victory, but it did not understand Ukraine as a separate nation. Hostomel was crucial because it could have opened the capital, but Ukrainian forces retook it. He rejects the idea that a wrong turn stopped the invasion and says the real mistake was underestimating resistance.
Bucha changed everything 1:17:02
Bucha made the war real. Zelenskyy says people understood what Putin had done when they found mass graves of tortured adults and children. He asked that every journalist come at once so the world could see the bodies in the street. An old survivor said even the fascists in World War II had not treated people that way. The killings, he says, created lasting hatred and proof that cannot be brushed away.
Revenge and justice 1:19:31
He says Bucha left him wanting revenge, something he had never felt before. That feeling is why he sees a ceasefire and talks as a huge compromise. He says no one can ask relatives of tortured children to forgive. What people need instead is justice, punishment for the guilty, and some moral repair. He also says the war has changed him and that life before and after it are two different worlds.
Security and escalation 1:38:02
Zelenskyy says the cities under pressure are not just places on a map. They are industrial centers and part of Ukraine’s defense. If Ukraine gives them up, the risk grows and no one can promise safety. He says the biggest compromise already is a ceasefire, but pulling back farther would leave people exposed. He also says Russia would not risk nuclear weapons because it would lose allies, but Putin will stay tied to the same system until his life ends.
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