Secret plan to move Ukraine’s capital to LONDON when Putin invaded…before Zelensky insisted ‘I need ammo, not a ride’

Sun UK ^ | 12/18/2024 | Ellie Doughty Will Stewart

[marcusmaximus]

Zelensky defiantly stood his ground in Kyiv as Russia invaded - despite reports that Russia would claim it in days.

UKRAINE drafted a secret plan to move its government to London before tyrant Vladimir Putin invaded in February 2022.

But when Russian forces launched their illegal assault Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky famously refused Western pleas to seek safe haven.

"The fight is here; I need ammunition, not a ride," he told the US, according to the Ukrainian embassy in Britain.

The embassy said Ukrainians were "proud of their President" as he stood strong in the face of danger when Putin was expected to be able to take capital Kyiv in just a matter of days.

Vadym Prystaiko, former Ukrainian ambassador to London, revealed details behind the London-Ukraine contingency plan.

He said: "As far as our work in London is concerned, we actually proactively wanted to offer the [Ukrainian] government a place to continue our work at the time of possible search for a place.

"When we talked to our colleagues in Britain, no one talked about a government in exile.

"They talked about the continuation of the [Ukrainian] government [from London]."

He added: "This was not a decision of the Ukrainian government.

"It was my proposal at the time, if needed."

[Degaston]

If Russia would have won the Battle of Antonov Airport (the cargo airport in Hostomel) then it’s possible that Kyiv would have fallen. The Russians initially secured the runways & enough of the airport to allow for swarms of Ilyushin Il-76 supply planes and other reinforcements to come in. However, the Ukrainians quickly counterattacked, setup good cerfews (and other controls of the streets/movements) in Kyiv & surrounding towns (to ensure that saboteurs could not operate), and the Russians had to shift their plan to take Kyiv. That’s why you saw these long convoys coming from Belarus running into trouble as their objectives were stymied and the Battle of Kyiv was lost whose objectives were to quickly topple Zelinskyy/government and replace them like they’ve done so many places in the Donbas region, like Mariupol.

What Putin failed to understand is that he never had a chance of 100% subjugating Ukraine. And what Zelinskyy still may fail to understand is that he never has a chance to get 100% of the formerly held Ukraine territories back, such as Crimea.

The Russians took control of the airport on the opening morning. But by the end of the afternoon they had lost control. They never got any reinforcement flights in. The next day the Russians took back control, but the airstrip had been too damaged, and they never got it repaired enough to be usable for reinforcements. And by then they had shifted to using their land/rail lines through Belarus for reinforcements. If the Russians had held the Antonov airport during the afternoon of Feb 24, 2022 then history may have been different.