Kiev: A war is not a game of chess. If anything, it is a macabre dance of death and that is what is happening at this hour in Ukraine, where cities are razed to rubble, people in their thousands flee to safer places. In the midst of this melee many ask where President Volodymyr Zelensky is.
In the first hours of Russia's barging into Ukraine, he said he would stay in the country to fight. That was what he did and that was what many thought he was doing. There is no gainsaying it is not so. Two conflicting reveals early this week had people doubt its veracity. The first from American authorities let on the off chance of setting up a Ukrainian government in exile in Poland with Zelensky in the lead.
Closely afterwards, Russia revealed that Zelensky as staying outside the country. Zelensky's office spokesperson would neither confirm nor reject if it was true. Nearly flabbergasting international observes Zelensky's video urging people to fight appeared on Facebook. That again has the people guessing where he could be. A fresh report this morning describes him of saying that he is still in Kiev. Adding to it he said he was not hiding in the thick of Russian attack.
"I stay in Kiev. On Bankova Street. I'm not hiding. And I'm not afraid of anyone. As much as it takes to win this Patriotic War of ours," the President added.The video posted on his Facebook page late Monday night has Zelensky showing the views of the city from his office in the heart of the capital city, according to reports.
Zelenksy's video appeared hours after the third round of peace talks at Belarus-Poland border between Ukrainian and Russian delegations ended without any significant developments, according to IANS.
Meanwhile, aide to Russian President Vladimir Medinsky, heading the Russian delegation, said it was too early to talk about anything positive. The talks mostly were about political and military aspects, he added.
A close to a fortnight into invading Ukraine, Russian has not fully its way in Ukraine even attacking the nation's key places. If anything, the outcome of the war is the huge humanitarian crisis since WW II. There are more than 742,000 people across Ukraine without access to electricity, according to the Foreign Ministry in Kiev. Some 238,000 Ukrainians are also without gas, it added. UN authorities yesterday said the Ukraine crisis is causing major refugee crisis in Europe.