In the centre of Kyiv – protected by checkpoints, sandbags, troopers and weapons – stands town’s navy coronary heart.
It is right here that we meet Oleksiy Danilov, head of the nation’s nationwide safety council – President Zelenskyy’s most trusted safety adviser.
Mr Danilov will not be a shrinking violet. We converse for 20 or half-hour, throughout which period his darkish gaze by no means strikes from me and his focus by no means dips. He is resolute the battle can be received and Russia will undergo its penalties.
Determined, too, that we must always know the respect and affection he holds for the United Kingdom. Does he, I’m wondering, have a message for the brand new prime minister?
Putin dealing with ‘inevitable defeat’ in southern Ukraine – observe dwell battle updates
“Britain has been helping us since the first days of the war,” says Mr Danilov, intensely. “When Boris Johnson was the prime minister, he communicated a lot with our president. On the first day and in the most difficult days, he communicated constantly with him.
“I’m greater than positive that the subsequent prime minister will do the identical for our nation, as Johnson and Truss did, and it is going to be a continuation of the nice assist that the individuals of Great Britain are doing.
“We have a great common cause, and we are aware that we are on the side of the light of the whole of Europe and the whole civilised world. In adding to military aid, training our soldiers and accepting our refugees, Britain has offered us the help of a joint family. And this moral help is very important. It is unsurpassed.”
His cheer fades, although. We discuss a succession of grim challenges. The missiles and drones, as an illustration, which have rained down on some cities and cities, destroying important infrastructure and imperilling the nation’s energy provide.
“These are the things on which people’s lives depend – the work of hospitals, schools, and the lives of the elderly. This is humanitarian terrorism,” he says.
Then there may be the Kakhovka dam, which he says has been mined by the Russian military “with a huge amount of explosives”.
Read extra: What is a ‘soiled bomb’ and is Russia planning to explode the Nova Kakhovka dam?
There are claims Russia might blow it up to be able to cease Ukrainian troops advancing in the direction of Kherson.
“We will have to wait and see but if they do blow it up then the idea of water supply in Crimea will be gone for 10 or 15 years, or maybe forever.
“Then the query arises as to why they need Crimea if they will go away it with out water.”
As for Kherson itself, he says the situation is “not straightforward” but that he does not expect Russian troops “to retreat on their very own… they’ve their very own plan, which I believe we perceive”.
Click to subscribe to Ukraine War Diaries wherever you get your podcasts
He is, I think, laying the ground for a potentially brutal battle.
He fears, too, that a new front could open in the north.
Russian troops are reportedly massing in Belarus (a country for whose leaders Mr Danilov reserves a particular disdain), raising the spectre of them crossing the border and heading south towards Kyiv. It is, he tells me, a subject he had discussed with Mr Zelenskyy just before we met.
“Belarus has been occupied by the Russian Federation for a very long time,” he says, gaze still full-on. “Russia does all the things it deems essential there, particularly when that considerations the navy sphere and the work of the Russian particular providers. In truth, they’re below occupation.”
Read more:
Russian claims Ukraine could use ‘dirty bomb’ dismissed by West
‘It doesn’t stop’: The Ukrainian solders fighting from beneath the trees
Ukraine’s ad-hoc aviators using consumer drones to spy on Russian frontline
So could Belarus be the base for an attack?
“Yes, certainly, from that facet, after a sure time period, sure disagreeable occasions could happen for our nation. They have labored out this query. And they’ll in a brief time period switch numerous their troops exactly by air and rail to Belarus.”
He tells me that Ukraine does not have a “soiled bomb”, despite the claims of the Kremlin, and doesn’t have the necessary material (“since 1994 once we gave all the things [Soviet-era nuclear weapons previously stationed in Ukraine] to Russia freed from cost”) and “we’d not cope with this challenge anyway – we aren’t North Korea, or Iran or Russia”.
And then we get to the awkward bit of the interview.
Before meeting Mr Danilov, I had canvassed the view of a few senior European diplomats. One topic kept cropping up – what could end the war? Would Ukraine accept a deal where, for instance, it gave up the land occupied by Russia since 2014 in exchange for, say, NATO membership?
Mr Danilov’s gaze turns to a glare.
“I don’t know who you talk to in Europe and what these people have to do with our independence,” he says, frowning.
“Let me remind you. At one time, a French figure [he refers to former President Nicolas Sarkozy] tried to negotiate with Russia regarding Georgia, Georgia lost part of its territories. After figures from France and Germany forced us to sign the Minsk agreements [in 2014], we lost part of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. But we didn’t stop fighting for them, and we didn’t stop defending it, because it’s ours.
“This is our structure, that is our legal guidelines, that is our land. Let them [European leaders] give their land to Putin. I need to see how their neighborhood, their constituents, and their kids will react.
“Look, you can’t incite terrorists. Because in the future, their desire to capture, capture and capture once more will only increase. This is a dangerous practice. They made an example of Fascist Germany. So we have a very good memory. Now Putin is not much different from Hitler – he is just a modern Hitler.
“From 1941 to 1945, Germany was at battle with virtually the entire world. In May 1945, it was left in ruins. The identical will occur with Russia. They are doomed to it.”
So how, I wonder, can Ukraine and Russia ever be reconciled. After all, even when the war is over the geography won’t change – they will still share a long border.
“Firstly, I don’t see that Putin can be in energy for lengthy,” Mr Danilov says. “He is doing all the things in his energy to make Russia disintegrate. It is Putin who’s destroying Russia along with his actions.
“Secondly, other countries co-exist with their neighbours, and it is not necessary to fight. It is not necessary to clarify relations by military means. And where will the borders be? I have repeatedly said that Ichkeria [Chechnya] will be free, Tatarstan will be free, and many countries will be free. Whether it will happen this year, or next year, or in the near future – let’s see.”
And that is the view that intoxicates and conjures up so many individuals in Ukraine – a narrative of whole victory: that Ukraine will prevail, Russia can be vanquished and Mr Putin will fall.
The fact is that there are numerous throughout Europe who do hope for a deal to finish the battle however I think they may have a tough time convincing Mr Danilov.
For the previous eight months, Ukraine has been telling its those who they’re preventing to avoid wasting all of their nation.
To transfer the goalposts now can be exhausting.
“Our society,” he says, “demands the liberation of all our lands from the Russian invaders.”
He neither appears to be like nor appears like a person prepared to alter his thoughts.
Source: information.sky.com”