Zelensky's Press Marathon: Coup With Akhmetov, Ex-Intelligence Chief Burba and the "Wagner Men"

The president said Yermak is a "powerful man".

On November 26, at the Creative States coworking space in Kyiv's Pechersk district, President Volodymyr Zelensky held a "press marathon" during which he addressed many issues. Here are the main statements made by the president.

Constitutional Court judge

Zelensky appointed two judges of the Constitutional Court under the president's quota.

Volodymyr Zelensky
President of Ukraine

We have started the reform to cleanse the courts. You saw what crisis there was with the Constitutional Court. By the way, I appointed two. We have still managed to overcome this moment, we turned it around. I appointed yesterday two new judges from the president to the Constitutional Court out of the seven elected. I don't know whether the decree has been published.

The decree has not yet been published on the president's website. The president did not name the new judges. Apparently, they will take the places of Oleksandr Tupytskyi and Oleksandr Kasminin.

Coup

Zelensky said he had received information about a possible preparation of a coup d'état in Ukraine and that billionaire Rinat Akhmetov is ready to get involved in this.

According to the president, the entourage is drawing Akhmetov into such a process against his people and the president, into an information war; the oligarch has already joined in, he says. At the same time, Zelensky said he "does not believe in coups".

Volodymyr Zelensky
President of Ukraine

We received information that on the first of the month there will be a coup d'état in our country. December 1-2. This is not only agent information but also audio, where representatives of Ukraine, let's say, with representatives of Russia discuss the participation of Rinat Akhmetov in a coup in Ukraine, that a billion dollars will be involved, and so on. I consider this a setup, an insult to Akhmetov; he is being drawn into a war against the Ukrainian state. I believe he has started it, I believe it will be his big mistake, because one cannot fight against one's own people and the president they elected. I believe his entourage is drawing him into such a war.

Zelensky said he is "very calm" about this. He invited Rinat Akhmetov to Bankova to hear information that can be shared.

"I want to say that I am not Yanukovych, I will not run anywhere. And I will not climb onto the bulldozer like Poroshenko during the Heavenly Hundred deaths. I will wait for everyone who intends to come in these days. I will work at Bankova," Zelensky noted.

Burba is an "adventurer and swindler"

The president said that former State Intelligence Service head Vasyl Burba, a man of the previous head of state Petro Poroshenko, is an "adventurer and swindler" who wanted to discredit him.

Volodymyr Zelensky
President of Ukraine

You understand, he is an adventurer and a swindler. I never wanted to speak about him like this. But now, when he has been fired. Well, a petty man who did renovations in Konche for 11 million, an SBU officer who blocked everything, offers me Covid. I drew conclusions and wanted to fire this man. After that, of course, Petro Oleksiyovych, who stands behind all this, appears. He wanted a rift in our relations with the USA.

Zelensky spoke about a key conversation with Burba about a special operation to detain Wagner fighters, after which he understood that it could not be permitted.

Volodymyr Zelensky
President of Ukraine

Comrade Burba comes and says what he proposes. I had one question, which I asked him directly: "Turkish Airlines — does Erdogan need to know? — No. — Understood." I do not want to go into details, but I do not believe this is our operation; I have the feeling that we are being drawn in. I say: "I want to know. A Turkish Airlines plane departing from Minsk — there will be ordinary people on it, citizens of Turkey and others, more than a hundred people. When you propose that the plane descend and we land it in Ukraine, I have a question: what if militants seize this plane — could that happen? It could. And what if they take the plane and all the people die? Even better: we will blame others for this (Burba allegedly replied — ed.). I said this is not our operation, it is not thought through in detail; I am ready to accept any operation, even this one, if things are calculated in detail and if people are not harmed.

According to him, when Burba left the Office of the President, he said that after America, Burba wants to make Zelensky quarrel with President Recep Erdogan and drag Ukraine into a huge scandal with Turkey.

Zelensky said Erdogan would never forgive this: "I discuss such things with him behind closed doors, such things! How he helps us! I would never have driven into that wall.

The president said that they entered Minsk not by plane but by bus. They were housed in a sanatorium near Lukashenko. When Burba realized that his ideas had been "knocked down and split by Russia", he decided to leak this information through Ukrainian media.

"I no longer wanted to meet this man, who is not an intelligence officer of our state. That's all.

The president told journalist Savik Shuster that he was simply tired of this story, and when the media began to "defend such people" — that is an outspoken conversation.

Volodymyr Zelensky
President of Ukraine

I won't even tell you how the Russians reacted to this, what information I received, how they rejoiced, how they "screwed" us. I am ashamed of this episode in the life of intelligence, "outstanding intelligence officers of Ukraine". I am ashamed. We were weak in this operation. That is what I am ashamed of and what really happened.

About Yermak

The president is confident that Office of the President head Andriy Yermak is a "powerful man" who has carried out many important operations, and that he must not be lost.

Volodymyr Zelensky
President of Ukraine

Mr. Yermak is not just in dialogue with the leadership but in a very powerful dialogue with the leadership of the best intelligence services of different states, believe me, of all our partners, as well as the heads of the offices of various presidents. He is fully known; his phone was tapped and everyone in the leadership of all the intelligence services heard it — they would not sit at the table with him. You compare Yermak with Zakharchenko. There is no need to compare. First, Yermak did not kill people and did not give such orders. Second, Yermak, on the contrary, is the owner of your channel, by the way, the former president, Mr., comrade, after all, Petro Poroshenko, whom he was supposed to bring back home according to his operations (referring to the sailors seized by Russia in the Azov Sea — ed.). Yermak did this; he returned the sailors, handled exchanges, and together with many colleagues carried out very important operations.

He believes it is inexpedient to lose a strong man, because "Mr. Petro does not like him".

Escalation on the part of Russia

Zelensky said the possibility of escalation from Russia has existed for many years and Ukraine is fully prepared for it, but right now there is deliberate intimidation of Ukrainian citizens by certain forces and the resources they control.

Volodymyr Zelensky
President of Ukraine

We have been in a state of war for eight years already. The possibility of a large-scale escalation, or continuation of escalation, by Russia or by the militants that Russia supports could happen every day. But I believe that today there is intimidation from some platforms and media that tomorrow there will be war.

The president noted that our state can count on its strong army, which is being modernized, receiving new equipment, and military pay is being increased.

According to him, foreign leaders are trying to help hold negotiations between Ukraine and Russia: "They want contacts between the Office of the President and the administration of the President of Russia. I think that in the near future Yermak will be in contact with them."