TIME magazine reporter Simon Shuster recently published the book "The Showman: Inside the Invasion That Shook the World and Made a Leader of Volodymyr Zelensky" describing the conflict in Ukraine and related information.
Escape train
The book has revealed some little-known information about Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the time Russia had just begun its military campaign. Notably, the Ukrainian security service maintained an idling train in Kyiv so that Mr. Zelensky could quickly escape the city to ensure his safety, Business Insider reported.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had a phone call with Chinese President Xi Jinping in April 2023
“In February 2022, in the early days of the Russian onslaught, the train — empty and ready to leave Kyiv’s central station at a moment’s notice — was routinely checked by security personnel for any threats,” Mr. Shuster wrote.
According to journalist Shuster, then-Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said that Russia was trying to make Mr. Zelensky panic and run away: "Russia's tactic is to push the president out of Kyiv. They are testing our morale."
Several other lawmakers left Kyiv, while many senior and mid-ranking officers of Ukraine’s security service, the SBU, also planned to do so. The book also revealed that Mr Zelensky’s wife and children later left Kyiv on a private train, along with a security team and a suitcase.
"Don't leave"
In February 2022, many media outlets predicted that President Zelensky would leave the country if the fighting intensified. Previously, Mr. Viktor Yanukovych, Mr. Zelensky's predecessor, went to Russia when the wave of pro-European Union (Euromaiden) protests swept Kyiv in 2014.
Smoke rises in Donetsk province after shelling on January 22.
But the reality is that nearly two years after the conflict began, Mr Zelensky has yet to board a train, despite many believing he would soon. The Ukrainian leader’s decision not to leave the country has long been recognized as an early turning point in the war with Russia.
According to the book, even within Mr Zelensky’s own intelligence services it was unclear what approach he would take. “That’s a factor you can never calculate,” Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, told Mr Shuster.
In the early days of fighting, the idea of Russian tanks advancing on the Ukrainian capital was very real. On February 25, Reuters reported that Kyiv was under aerial bombardment, with artillery fire coming from the outskirts.
The danger was dire. Kyiv was vulnerable to both ground and air attacks, Mr Shuster wrote, and Mr Zelensky was urged to move to bunkers on the edge of the city. Meanwhile, Western leaders, including US President Joe Biden, offered to help his Ukrainian counterpart form a government abroad.
One prominent proposal, according to the book, was for Mr. Zelensky to run the country from eastern Poland. But Mr. Shuster writes that Mr. Zelensky refused and repeatedly redirected the discussion, focusing primarily on how the West could help Ukraine’s defense.
As for domestic affairs, Mr. Zelensky then delivered a speech from his desk to reassure the people. One of the most powerful messages came on February 25, 2022, when Mr. Zelensky recorded a video on his phone of himself and his closest aides still on Kyiv's Bankova Street, saying, "We are all here, defending our independence and our country."
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