What did Zelenskyy tell Biden when he offered to evacuate him from Kyiv?

Zelenskyy said Joe Biden was the first leader to offer to evacuate him and his family as Russian forces surrounded Kyiv in February 2022. He refused, working from a deep bunker under his office on Bankova, and went out into the street two or three times a day because Russia kept spreading claims that he had fled. Leaving, he said, would have been a betrayal.

Several European leaders and people in his own political circle made the same offer.
Zelenskyy said soldiers later told him that seeing their president stay helped them defend and liberate Kyiv.

▸In their words

“I need ammunition, not a ride.” Volodymyr Zelenskyy · at 57:11 — open in the transcript →

Source: our own transcription of the episode. The full conversation is on The Diary Of A CEO with Steven Bartlett (2026-10-22). Read the whole episode summary →

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