In the center of Kyiv, protected by checkpoints, sandbags, soldiers and weapons, is the military heart of the city.
It is here that we meet Oleksii Danilov, head of the country’s national security council, President Zelensky’s most trusted security adviser.
Mr. Danilov is no shrinking violet. We talk for 20 to 30 minutes, during which time his dark gaze never leaves me and his concentration never drops. He is determined that the war will be won and Russia will suffer the consequences.
Resolved, also, that we should know the respect and affection he has for the United Kingdom. I wonder if he has a message for the new Prime Minister?
Putin faces ‘inevitable defeat’ in southern Ukraine – follow live war updates
“Britain has been helping us since the first days of the war,” says Danilov, intensely. “When Boris Johnson was prime minister, he communicated a lot with our president. On the first day and the most difficult days, she communicated with him constantly.
“I am more than confident that the next Prime Minister will do the same for our country, as Johnson and Truss did, and it will be a continuation of the great help that the people of Great Britain are doing.
“We have a great common cause, and we are aware that we are on the side of the light of all Europe and the whole civilized world. By adding military aid, training our soldiers, and accepting our refugees, Great Britain has offered us the “help of a joint family. And this moral help is very important. It is second to none.”
His joy fades, however. We are talking about a succession of serious challenges. Missiles and drones, for example, that have rained down on some cities and towns, destroying critical infrastructure and jeopardizing the country’s energy supply.
“These are the things that people’s lives depend on: the work of hospitals, schools and the lives of the elderly. This is humanitarian terrorism,” he says.
Then there is the Kakhovka dam, which he says has been blown up by the Russian military “with a large amount of explosives.”
Image: Oleksii Danilov is President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s most trusted security adviser
Read more: What is a ‘dirty bomb’ and does Russia plan to blow up the Nova Kakhovka Dam?
There are claims that Russia could blow it up to stop Ukrainian troops advancing on Kherson.
“We’ll have to wait and see, but if they blow it, the idea of a water supply to Crimea will be gone for 10 to 15 years, or maybe forever.
“Then the question arises why they want Crimea if they are going to run out of water.”
As for Kherson itself, he says the situation is “not easy” but he doesn’t expect Russian troops to “withdraw on their own … they have their own plan, which I think we understand.”
I think it’s setting the stage for a potentially brutal battle.
He also fears that a new front could open in the north.
Russian troops are massing in Belarus (a country for whose leaders Mr. Danilov reserves particular disdain), raising the specter that they are crossing the border and heading south toward Kyiv. It is, he tells me, a subject he had discussed with Mr. Zelenskyy just before we met.
“Belarus has been occupied by the Russian Federation for a long time,” he says, his eyes still full. “Russia does everything it considers necessary there, especially when it comes to the military sphere and the work of the Russian special services. In fact, they are under occupation.”
Read more: Russia says Ukraine could use ‘dirty bomb’ rejected by West ‘It doesn’t stop’: Ukrainian soldiers fight from under the trees. Ukraine’s ad hoc airmen use consumer drones to spy on the Russian frontline.
So could Belarus be the base for an attack?
“Yes, indeed, from this side, after a certain period of time, certain unpleasant events may happen to our country. They have solved this matter. And in a short period of time they can transfer a large number of their troops precisely by air and rail to Belarus.”
He tells me that Ukraine does not have a “dirty bomb”, despite the Kremlin’s claims, and does not have the necessary material (“since 1994 when we gave all [Soviet-era nuclear weapons previously stationed in Ukraine] to Russia for free”) and “we wouldn’t discuss this issue anyway – we are not North Korea, Iran or Russia”.
And then we get to the awkward part of the interview.
Before I met with Mr. Danilov, I had considered the opinion of some senior European diplomats. A theme kept coming up: what could end the war? Would Ukraine accept a deal where, for example, it would give up lands occupied by Russia since 2014 in exchange for, say, NATO membership?
Mr. Danilov’s look turns into a look.
“I don’t know who you’re talking to in Europe and what these people have to do with our independence,” he says, frowning.
“Let me remind you. At one point, a French figure [he refers to former President Nicolas Sarkozy] tried to negotiate with Russia regarding Georgia, Georgia lost some of its territories. Then figures from France and Germany forced us to sign the Minsk agreements [in 2014], we lost part of Donetsk and Luhansk regions. But we didn’t stop fighting for them, and we didn’t stop defending it, because it’s ours.
“This is our constitution, these are our laws, this is our land. Leave them alone [European leaders] give their lands to Putin. I want to see how their community, their constituents and their children will react.
“Look, you can’t incite terrorists. Because in the future, their desire to capture, capture and capture once more will only increase. This is a dangerous practice. They made an example of fascist Germany. So we have a lot good memory Now Putin is not much different from Hitler – he is just a modern Hitler.
“From 1941 to 1945 Germany was at war with almost the whole world. In May 1945 it was in ruins. The same will happen to Russia. They are doomed.”
So, I wonder, how can Ukraine and Russia ever reconcile? After all, even when the war ends, the geography will not change: they will still share a long border.
“First of all, I don’t see Putin being in power for a long time,” says Danilov. “He is doing everything in his power to bring Russia down. It is Putin who is destroying Russia with his actions.
“Secondly, other countries live with their neighbors, and there is no need to fight. There is no need to clarify relations by military means. And where will the borders be? I have repeatedly said that Ixkeria. [Chechnya] will be free, Tatarstan will be free and many countries will be free. Whether it will happen this year, or next year, or in the near future, we’ll see.”
Use the Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
0:31 Lavrov: “The dirty bomb” claims that it is “not unfounded”
And this is the vision that intoxicates and inspires so many people in Ukraine: a story of total victory: that Ukraine will prevail, Russia will be defeated, and Mr. Putin will fall.
The truth is that there are many across Europe who are waiting for an agreement to end the war, but I suspect that they will have a hard time convincing Mr. Danilov.
For the past eight months, Ukraine has been telling its people that they are fighting to save their entire country.
Moving the sticks now would be difficult.
“Our society,” he says, “demands the liberation of all our lands from the Russian invaders.”
He neither looks nor sounds like a man willing to change his mind.