Zelenskyy Says He Was Offered To Evacuate People Year Before Russian Invasion

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that he was offered to evacuate people a year before Russia invaded Ukraine.

He spoke about this in an interview with NOS, Ukrainian News Agency reports.

"First of all, our country was preparing. We knew it (a full scale invasion) could be at any time. The path that was offered to us - to ring the bell, dig trenches, take people out of the country, and this should have been done a year before this invasion - I believe that it was wrong, because there is no need to sow panic in our society," he said.

Zelenskyy believes that notifying people about a full-scale war a year before it began would hit the budget and economy.

"Because all this will hit the financial situation, our budget and the economy. We understand this for sure now that the invasion has begun. We have all these steps happened to our state. We have minus at least 5 billion in the budget deficit. And this deficit began in March. And if we started to launch a campaign the year before, our economy would no longer exist. It would be very hard for us. We understood what the rate of our currency would be, how the population and business would withdraw money. I think these were very high risks," the head of state said.

At that, the President stressed that the army was preparing all this time and was ready for the invasion of Russia.

"As for our army, the army was ready. It showed it," Zelenskyy said.

As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, Zelenskyy commented on the position of Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte on Ukraine's membership in the European Union, stressing that if, in his opinion, Ukraine has no place in the European Union, he should say it directly.