Conversation shortly after the beginning of the war
Bennett: Putin promised me not to kill Zelenskyy
02/05/2023 2:19 p.m
According to Ukrainian sources, when Russia invaded Ukraine almost a year ago, there was also an attempt to kill Zelenskyy. The fact that it didn’t come to that is also thanks to Israel, says ex-Prime Minister Bennett. Putin gave him his word that he would let the Ukrainian president live.
At the start of the Ukraine war, Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin promised former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett not to kill Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Speaking to an Israeli journalist, Bennett said Putin made that promise at mediation talks in Moscow last March.
Then-Israeli Prime Minister Bennett was the first Western leader to visit Putin in Moscow after the war began. He then traveled on to Berlin, where he consulted Chancellor Olaf Scholz about the Ukraine conflict. Further mediation efforts between Russia and Ukraine followed, but were ultimately unsuccessful.
Bennett published the conversation on his Facebook page. A leader’s life is most valuable in conflict, Bennett said. “I knew Zelenskyy was in danger, he was in a bunker whose location was unknown.” After about three to four hours of the conversation, he asked the Russian President if he wanted to kill Zelensky. Putin denied this. Bennett said he asked Putin to give him his word. “He said: ‘I will not kill Zelenskyj.'”
After the meeting, he called Zelenskyj directly on the way from the Kremlin to the airport. “Listen, I’m coming from the conversation, he won’t kill you,” he said to Selenskyj at the time. Selenskyj asked if he was sure, and Bennett replied: “One hundred percent.” About two hours later, the Ukrainian President then recorded a video from his office in which he assured that he was not afraid for his life.