Russia says it will not attack Rada and Office of President of Ukraine

The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and the Office of the President are not "decision-making centers," similar to the russian State Duma. Andrey Kartapolov, the chairman of the State Duma Committee on Defense of the aggressor state of russia, has stated this. His remarks were reported by Agentstvo News on Tuesday, May 26.

The russian State Duma ruled out striking the Verkhovna Rada and President Zelenskyy’s office as part of the announced attacks on “decision-making centers” in Kyiv.

"The Verkhovna Rada is not a decision-making center—just as, for example, the State Duma is not one in Russia. Parliamentarians do not control the troops and do not determine where and when to strike," Kartapolov said.

According to him, the same can be said about the Office of the President of Ukraine, since, as he noted, Zelenskyy does not appear at his office and “is sitting in a bunker.” Instead, the russian State Duma considers “protected command posts of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, which are not located in the center of Kyiv,” to be “decision-making centers,” Kartapolov stated.

As the Ukrainian News agency earlier reported, on May 25, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the aggressor country, russia, announced the start of systematic strikes on defense enterprises, so-called “decision-making centers,” and command posts in Kyiv, and consequently urged foreigners to leave the capital and residents of the capital not to approach military and administrative infrastructure facilities.