Zelensky: Russian missiles targeted presidential quarters in Kyiv

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in an interview published on Thursday that, in the first hours of the invasion, the presidential quarters in Kyiv were targeted by Russia.

“We woke them up,” the Ukrainian president told Time in an interview — which spent more than two weeks in Ukraine speaking to officials — referring to his two children.

“It was loud. There were explosions over there,” he added.

Ukrainian presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych told the magazine that Russians had twice attempted to storm the compound, where, Zelensky noted, his wife and children were still present.

The reporting comes as Ukraine has endured more than two months of fighting after Russia began its invasion into the country on Feb. 24. Russian attempts at capturing Kyiv proved unsuccessful, and Russia has since launched a renewed campaign in southern and eastern Ukraine.

Recent developments have demonstrated how dangerous it has become for officials to visit the capital and Zelensky: Ukrainian officials said on Thursday that Russia had struck Kyiv while United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was visiting. Bulgaria’s prime minister was also visiting the capital that day.

Zelensky said in an address on Thursday that five missiles had been fired at the city.

“And this says a lot about Russia’s true attitude to global institutions. About the efforts of the Russian leadership to humiliate the UN and everything that the Organization represents. Therefore, it requires a strong response,” he said.

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