The call, as Vereshchuk recalled, was one of many warnings given to senior government officials amid Western expectations that the Russian military would quickly gain control of Kiev and seek to establish its own puppet government. “The Americans and the British have warned that there is a list of assassinations and that the main target is the president and his family and then members of the government,” Verestsuk said. “They told us, ‘They will look for you, chase you and kill you.’ And I said, “What, they’re going to kill a deputy prime minister on live television?” “Okay, no problem, so we will stay here and let the whole world see it,” he said. The decision to stay in Kyiv began with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. On the second day of the war, he told European leaders in a teleconference: “This may be the last time you see me alive,” adding that he had information that he was on a Russian list of hits. He also reportedly rejected US President Joe Biden’s evacuation proposal from Kyiv, saying “it needed ammunition, not a walk”. Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s regular video speeches from Kyiv have been a source of inspiration for Ukrainians. Photo: Ümit Bektaş / Reuters In the first weeks of the war, Russian state media promoted a series of conspiracy theories about Zelensky’s whereabouts: that the videos showing him in Kyiv were fake and that the Ukrainian leader had in fact fled immediately after the invasion. However, these allegations have become even more disappointing as evidence has emerged that he had remained in the capital and his regular, targeted video addresses have become a huge source of inspiration for many Ukrainians. Verestsuk said Zelensky’s decision to stay behind was one of the first signs that Ukraine did not want to surrender to the alleged inevitability of Vladimir Putin’s capture of Ukraine, and helped lay the groundwork for a lively response that led Russia to give up its push towards Kyiv. at least for now. “The Kremlin really hoped that we would be disoriented and leave. But it was one of the first steps in helping to control the situation. Can you imagine people finding out that the president and his team, and the government, had fled? “Of course, it would have discouraged everyone,” Vereshchuk said. For other Ukrainian officials in the occupied territories, the question of whether they would follow Zelensky’s example was difficult. Many local mayors and other officials remained in office, sometimes with fatal consequences, while others decided to flee. In a few cases, the mayors have expressed their willingness to cooperate with the Russians and may face charges of treason if Ukraine regains control of their cities. In the city of Motyzhyn, the mayor, Olha Sukhenko, decided to look. Along with her husband and son, she was arrested by Russian soldiers on March 23. They were later shot and buried in shallow graves, according to Ukrainian officials. In many occupied cities, there have been reports of Russian soldiers going door-to-door in search of those with links to the Ukrainian government. Ihor Kostovarov, head of the villages of Staryi and Novyi Bykiv east of Kiev, said that at the same time as Sukenko was abducted, he decided to leave his own village. “We received information from our security services that the Russians were sending FSB squads to find and execute local officials. “I was here for the first three weeks, but after that information, I left,” he said. Kostovarov said many villagers were outraged by his decision to leave, making it difficult to return to the village after his release. Many local officials in other places who decided to leave have also been criticized. In the Sumy region, which borders Russia and was partially occupied by its troops at the beginning of the war, the governor, Dmytro Zhyvytskyy, claimed that whether or not the mayors remained in their place had an effect on the defense of the cities. “Krasnopilia fell because the mayor fled and Trostianets because the mayor fled. “No one was left to organize the defense,” he said, referring to two Russian-occupied cities for a month. Yuri Bova in his office in Trostianets. He says he had no choice but to leave. Photo: Anastasia Taylor-Lind / The Guardian Yuriy Bova, the mayor of Trostianets, said he had no choice but to leave the city, saying there were no Ukrainian army units there to defend it, as he only had a few rifles at his disposal to use against them. in the column of Russian tanks that moved to the city on the first day of the invasion. “If I had stayed, then I probably would not be alive and sitting in front of you today,” Bova said. “Instead, we decided to become party members.” Bova and a group of trusted people moved to villages outside the city, he said, and coordinated with remaining residents and sent telephone coordinates of Russian military positions. Zhyvytskyy, the regional governor, remained unconvinced and said he had important questions about Bova’s decision. “Go to the Trostianets and everyone you see is 15 years old in two weeks, and this guy is running around with a fresh face,” he said. In Melitopol, one of a number of cities in southern Ukraine occupied by Russian troops without heavy fighting in the first part of the invasion, the mayor, Ivan Fedorov, remained in office but refused to cooperate with the Russian army. Eventually, he left his temporary office with a bag over his head, was detained for six days and interrogated by Russian security services, before being released on bail. “If we had left the city immediately, we would have made a gift to the Russians, they would have said, ‘Your authorities are gone, we are the new authorities,’” he said. Now, he said, one can have no doubt that Russian sovereignty was exercised only by force. He added, however, that he had some sympathy for those who had made different decisions. “During the occupation the main thing is to save lives and the people who are most at risk are the city leaders. If the city is occupied, what should the mayor do, what should the team do? There was no single algorithm. Nobody gave us an order. “Everyone acted as they felt right,” he said.
