Photo: open sources
Head of the Russian State Duma Defense Committee Andrey Kartapolov claimed that Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada and the Presidential Office are not the “decision-making centers” that Moscow has threatened to target.
According to Kartapolov, the actual “decision-making centers” are protected command posts of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, which he said are not located in central Kyiv.
“The Verkhovna Rada is not a decision-making center — just as, for example, the State Duma in Russia is not one either. Deputies do not command troops and do not decide where and when strikes should be carried out,” the Russian lawmaker told Parlamentskaya Gazeta.
Kartapolov also claimed that the same applies to the Office of the President of Ukraine. He alleged that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy does not work there and instead “sits in a bunker.”
“There are two guards and five cleaners in the office. Is there any point in wasting expensive ammunition on what is essentially an empty place?” Kartapolov said.
The remarks came after Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov reportedly told US Secretary of State Marco Rubio that Russia would begin “systemic and consistent strikes” on Kyiv.
EU Ambassador to Ukraine Katarína Mathernová responded by saying that the European Union would not leave Kyiv despite Russia’s threats toward foreign diplomats. Meanwhile, China called on all sides to exercise restraint.
