Thread by @natynettle

NEW: @ZelenskyyUa just gave a remarkable interview to Russian independent journalists from @meduzaproject @kommersant @novaya_gazeta & @tvraine, who defied Russian government orders not to release it.

Here are some highlights in English. 👇🏼🧵1/

2/ Zelensky: “[Russian government’s] refusal to see Ukraine as an independent state is a shared tragedy of Ukrainian & Russian people,” as he sees Russian people (народ) as separate from the Russian government (власть).

3/ Zelensky says that he is “99.9% certain” that Russian leadership was told by pro-Russian political forces in Ukraine that Ukrainian people were awaiting Russian forces with “flowers and smiles” and that Zelensky’s government was widely unpopular.

4/ @tikhondzyadko asks Zelensky to clarify the number of dead/POW on the Russian side. Zelensky says Ukraine shares all the lists with the Russian army. Many of the killed 🇷🇺 soldiers are “children,” born in 2003-2004, & Russian side refuses to acknowledge them/take their bodies.

5/ Zelensky gets very emotional as he is saying that even cats & dogs get better treatment after they die than killed Russian soldiers who Russian government is refusing to acknowledge & instead is offering “trash bags” to Ukraine. “They are not just cattle,” says Zelensky.

6/ Zelensky says Russian gov’s disregard for the lives of its own people is a tragedy that is affecting Ukraine. A lot of Russian soldiers (“children,” he repeats), as Ukrainian intelligence confirms, didn’t understand where they were going. They were sent to be slaughtered in 🇺🇦

7/ Despite this, Zelensky says he doesn’t know if Ukrainian people will ever be able to forgive & restore their relationship with Russian people. If the war continues, every single Ukrainian will have someone in their family as a victim of Russian aggression.

8/ As to Russian language, Zelensky says he never has any problem speaking Russian if someone is addressing him in Russian. But the biggest harm that was done to the Russian language was done by Putin himself as Russian speaking cities were destroyed by his army.

9/ Paraphrasing Zelensky: The Russian people aren’t somehow our enemy just because they haven’t overthrown #Putin. But each Russian has a responsibility to speak out about the invasion, even if it's just to 1 other person.

10/ Zelensky confirms several Russian oligarchs, including Abramovich, offered to send money to Ukrainian army, rebuild Ukraine, and move their businesses there. Zelensky says any Russian businessperson who is ready to support Ukrainian army will be offered security & job.

11/ Zelensky says Russian forces should return to pre Feb 24 positions as a compromise & then talks about Donbas should continue.

Then he makes an interesting hint: Whomever Ukrainians elect next will be younger & less accommodating. So #Putin shouldn’t slow-walk negotiations.

12/ In the end, Zelensky addresses Russian people & asks them to tell their loved ones & friends the truth about Russian government’s actions in Ukraine. Only then he says there may be hope that Russian and Ukrainian children & grandchildren will live in peace.

13/ Two typos above:
(Tweet 1) handle for TV Rain is @tvrain
(Tweet 4) journalist who asked about Russian casualties is @zygaro not Dzyadko.

Risks of live-ish tweeting!