Of
Silke Bigalke, Moscow, and Frank Nienhuysen
It’s Saturday morning, and Volodymyr Zelensky wants people in Ukraine to wake up not only to hear about attacks, fighting and victims, but also to hear encouragement. So the Ukrainian president is standing in the middle of Kiev with his cell phone camera and is trying to exude confidence. That he has not fled, and that no Ukrainian army commander has yet overthrown him, as Vladimir Putin would like. Zelenskiy stood in front of the magnificent Art Nouveau building on Kiev’s Bankova Street, it is the residence of the head of state, you can see the clear Kiev morning sky. Wearing an olive green sweater with an olive green shirt underneath, he films himself and says: “We will not lay down our arms, we will defend our state.” Selensky warns against Russian false reports and counters: “Our weapon is the truth.” Then he concludes with the words: “Glory to Ukraine.”